LEADER OF THE HOUSE

Parliamentary Questions (Agency Letters)

Paul Holmes: To ask the Leader of the House from which Government agencies letters in response to Parliamentary Questions are (a) published in Hansard and (b) placed in the Library; and what criteria are applied in deciding which answering mechanism should be used.

Peter Hain: The responsibility for deciding answering mechanisms for all Parliamentary Questions rests with individual Ministers. Where a written Parliamentary Question is about a matter assigned to an Executive Agency under the terms of its Framework Documents, Ministers normally ask the Chief Executive to provide a substantive response to hon. Members. The text of the Chief Executive's letter is reproduced in the Official Report under the Minister's formal reply that he or she has commissioned such a response. Copies are also placed in the Library of the House.
	Where a letter is confidential (for example, if it contains personal information about a constituent), or where it is excessive in length, the Official Report will make a decision on whether to print the letter or to place it in the Library of the House.
	I would also like to refer the hon. Member to my Written Ministerial Statement of 21 July 2004, Official Report, column 35WS, on the new policy for handling "I will write" replies.

Select Committee Representation

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Leader of the House what progress he has made in his assessment of options for representation of minority parties on departmental select committees; and if he will make a statement.

Peter Hain: I am aware that the minority parties have concerns about their representation on the departmental Select Committees, but believe that it would be inappropriate to seek to address these at this stage in the Parliament. Meanwhile, the Government are ensuring that the interests of the minority parties are accommodated in the nomination of Standing Committees and ad hoc Joint Committees.

TRANSPORT

Signage/Street Furniture

Andrew Turner: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what progress he has made in reducing the impact of traffic signs and street furniture in areas of high environmental value; and if he will make a statement.

Charlotte Atkins: The management of traffic signs and street furniture is mainly the responsibility of local authorities. The Department for Transport recognises that over-provision or poor design of signs can have an adverse effect on the street scene. Our published advice on the design and use of traffic signs is intended to help local authorities provide adequate information for road users while avoiding sign clutter and other adverse environmental impacts. In particular, Chapter 4 of the Traffic Signs Manual (TSM), published in June 2004, stresses the importance of using warning signs sparingly, not cluttering signposts with more information than drivers can assimilate, not using yellow backing boards unnecessarily, and removing signs when they are no longer needed. Chapter 7 of TSM gives advice on sign layouts to avoid wasted space and reduce the overall size of signs. The Design Manual for Roads and Bridges includes advice on limiting the number of destinations shown on directional signs to minimise environmental intrusion.
	The Department is also working with English Heritage to develop regional street design manuals, primarily for conservation areas, which are expected to be published later this year.

Air Quality (Aircraft Cabins)

Paul Tyler: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what information the Aviation Health Unit has collated on symptoms from acute exposure to decomposition products in confined spaces.

Charlotte Atkins: None.

Air Safety (Boscombe Down)

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport on how many occasions in the past year National Air Traffic Services and the Ministry of Defence Airfield at Boscombe Down communicated in respect of incidents relating to airspace under Boscombe Down surveillance; and if he will make a statement.

Charlotte Atkins: NATS has a close working relationship with the Ministry of Defence at Boscombe Down and the two organisations communicate on a daily basis. NATS is not aware of any incidents within airspace operated by Boscombe Down in the past year.

Air Traffic Organisers Licence Scheme

Bill O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  what steps he is taking to ensure British holiday-makers travelling abroad are covered by the Air Traffic Organisers Licence scheme; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  what advice he offers to British holiday-makers who are stranded abroad when an airline fails and their holiday booking does not include Air Traffic Organisers Licence protection; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  if he will give effect to the recommendations of the Civil Aviation Authority to ensure that the Air Traffic Organisers Licence scheme applies to cover direct purchase flights; and if he will make a statement;
	(4)  what estimate he has made of the number of British holiday-makers who will be protected by the Air Traffic Organisers Licence scheme in each of the next three years; and if he will make a statement.

Charlotte Atkins: The ATOL scheme protected 27.6 million people in 2003. The Civil Aviation Authority estimates that the number of people protected in the next three years will be as follows:
	
		
			  Million 
		
		
			 2004–05 27 
			 2005–06 23–27 
			 2006–07 18–28 
		
	
	The figures for 2005–06 and 2006–07 reflect different scenarios concerning the trend for customers to make their own travel arrangements rather than buy traditional package holidays. The Government are assessing the advice provided by the CAA on options for financial protection of air travellers. Officials are working closely with the CAA and the aviation industry to improve information on financial protection and advice on travel insurance to those booking flights via the internet and call centres. British embassies, high commissions and consulates are able to provide consular advice and assistance to UK citizens who find themselves in difficulties while abroad.

Aviation

Paul Tyler: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  if he will commission a study by the Civil Aviation Authority and the Health and Safety Executive into the prevalence of Organophosphorus Ester-Induced Chronic Neurotoxicity induced by low-level inhalation of organophosphates present in lubricating oils and hydraulic fluids in aircraft;
	(2)  pursuant to the answer of 27 April 2004, Official Report, column 888W, on aviation, whether he has received a report from the Aviation Health Unit on the presence of organophosphate fumes in aircraft cabins and their effect on passengers and crews.

Charlotte Atkins: As part of its research commissioning process, the Aviation Health Working Group has invited the British Air Line Pilots Association to give a presentation at its meeting on 27 October 2004. This will cover concerns on cabin air quality, including chronic neurotoxicity related to organophosphates. On the basis of this presentation, and with the advice of the Aviation Health Unit, the group will decide whether to commission further research into this issue.

Aviation

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport whether it is his policy to proceed with the introduction of market mechanisms to reflect the contribution of aviation to global warming if such measures are opposed by the United States.

Charlotte Atkins: The Government are committed to taking a lead in tackling the problem of climate change. We are pursuing vigorously our commitment in the "Future of Air Transport" White Paper to press for aviation joining the EU emissions trading scheme in 2008, or as soon as possible thereafter. We will make this a priority during the UK Presidency of the EU in 2005 and beyond. And we intend to pursue similar action at the global level.
	We will continue to explore and discuss options for the use of other economic instruments, building on the work in the March 2003 report, "Aviation and the Environment: Using Economic Instruments". We reserve the right to act alone or bilaterally with like-minded partners if progress towards agreements at an international level proves too slow.

Buses

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how bus usage in (a) England, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber, (c) the City of York and (d) London has changed in percentage terms since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Charlotte Atkins: Since 1997, local bus patronage has changed as follows: (a) England, a rise of 4 per cent.;
	(b) Yorkshire and the Humber, a fall of 11 per cent.;
	(c) City of York, a rise of 17 per cent. (since 2000–01 period, see the following) and;
	(d) London, a rise of 24 per cent.
	Information is available from DfT surveys of bus operators for 1996–97 to 2002–03 in at regional level. For the City of York, data are from York UA's Annual Performance Report to DfT for the period 2000–01 to 2002–03.
	The information for England and the government office regions is published in Tables 10 and 13 in "A Bulletin of Public Transport Statistics GB: 2003 edition." A copy is in the Library of the House.

Buses

Ian Stewart: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much central government subsidy was paid directly to the five largest bus companies in Great Britain in the form of bus service operators grant in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04, broken down by area.

Charlotte Atkins: Bus service operators grant is usually claimed at operating subsidiary or depot level and payment records are not kept in the form requested.
	However, we have estimated in the following table the total payments to the five largest bus operators (Arriva, First, GoAhead, Travel West Midlands, and Stagecoach) based on estimates of their share of total bus mileage in each region.
	
		Estimated BSOG payments (m) to largest 5 operatorsby English region £ million
		
			 Region 2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 North West 38 39 
			 North East 26 27 
			 London 43 52 
			 West Midlands 29 30 
			 East Midlands 11 11 
			 East of England 17 18 
			 Yorkshire and Humber 27 28 
			 South East 23 24 
			 South west 15 16 
			 Total 229 245 
			 Total BSOG 317 341

Buses

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many rural bus services are supported by rural bus grants, broken down by local authority area.

Charlotte Atkins: The table that follows shows by local transport authority and region the number of bus services supported in 2003–04 by means of the Department's Rural Bus Subsidy Grant. This information has been supplied by the authorities concerned in the annual monitoring return of the grant's use.
	Our Rural Bus Challenge scheme has also provided £110 million for 301 projects involving many new services for the communities involved. A list of these projects is in the Library of the House and on the Department's website.
	
		
			 Local Authority Region Authority/Bus Services 
		
		
			 Bedfordshire 17 
			 Cambridgeshire 26 
			 Essex 28 
			 Hertfordshire 14 
			 Norfolk 71 
			 Peterborough 15 
			 Suffolk 36 
			 Thurrock 1 
			 East 208 
			 Derbyshire 66 
			 Leicestershire 21 
			 Lincolnshire 135 
			 Northamptonshire 45 
			 Nottinghamshire 29 
			 Rutland 10 
			 East Midlands 306 
			 Darlington 4 
			 Durham 50 
			 Hartlepool 2 
			 Middlesborough 1 
			 Northumberland 61 
			 Redcar and Cleveland 11 
			 Stockton-on-Tees 2 
			 NEXUS (Tyne and Wear) 4 
			 North East 135 
			 Blackburn and Darwen 3 
			 Cheshire 33 
			 Cumbria 84 
			 Greater Manchester 8 
			 Halton 2 
			 Lancashire 51 
			 Merseyside 3 
			 Warrington 3 
			 North West 187 
			 Bracknell 2 
			 Buckinghamshire 30 
			 E Sussex 40 
			 Hampshire 31 
			 Isle of Wight 181 
			 Kent 79 
			 Medway 12 
			 Milton Keynes 5 
			 Oxfordshire 47 
			 Surrey 24 
			 W Berkshire 10 
			 W Sussex 21 
			 Windsor and Maidenhead 2 
			 Wokingham 2 
			 South East 486 
			 Bath and NE Somerset 10 
			 Bristol 3 
			 Cornwall 86 
			 Devon 51 
			 Dorset 34 
			 Gloucestershire 46 
			 N Somerset 13 
			 Plymouth 4 
			 Poole 0 
			 S Gloucestershire 20 
			 Somerset 59 
			 Swindon 7 
			 Torbay 2 
			 Wiltshire 66 
			 South West 401 
			 CENTRO (W Midlands) 6 
			 Herefordshire 37 
			 Shropshire 57 
			 Staffordshire 58 
			 Stoke on Trent 3 
			 Telford 5 
			 Warwickshire 52 
			 Worcestershire 21 
			 West Midlands 239 
			 East Riding of Yorkshire 69 
			 North Lincolnshire 27 
			 North Lincolnshire 6 
			 North Yorkshire 75 
			 South Yorkshire 21 
			 West Yorkshire 42 
			 York 9 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 249 
			 Totals 2,211

Buses

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what the level of bus patronage has been in each year since 1997 (a) in total and (b) broken down by region.

Charlotte Atkins: Information on the number of local bus passenger boardings by Government Office Region is published in Table 13 of "A Bulletin of Public Transport Statistics GB: 2003 edition", a copy of which is in the Library of the House.

Buses

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many bus lanes have been created since 2000 (a) in total and (b) broken down by region; and what the total length was in each case.

Charlotte Atkins: Information on bus lanes implemented in each Government Office Region for the financial years 2001–02, 2002–03 and 2003–04 is shown in the following table.
	
		
			  2001–02  2002–03  2003–04  Total  
			  Number Kms Number Kms Number Kms Number Kms 
		
		
			 North East 8 8 3 4 6 5 17 17 
			 North West 10 9 23 24 7 12 40 45 
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 4 7 6 11 5 5 15 23 
			 East Midlands 2 2 4 2 3 3 9 7 
			 West Midlands 3 2 3 1 17 8 23 10 
			 East of England 1 1 7 6 6 7 14 14 
			 South East 15 7 29 18 22 23 66 48 
			 South West 10 4 10 8 10 7 30 19 
			 London 77 19 134 30 51 10 262 59 
			 Total 130 59 219 103 127 80 476 242

Container Report

Gwyneth Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the report commissioned from Napier university on Container Transshipment and Demand for Container Terminal Capacity in Scotland.

Alistair Darling: This was a report commissioned by the Scottish Executive which addressed the potential benefits to the Scottish economy of specific port development proposals. The Scottish Minister for Transport has already commented on the report in publishing it on 19 August.

Cycle Lanes

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many miles of cycle lanes there are in the Greater London area.

Charlotte Atkins: Transport for London estimates that within the London area there are approximately the following lengths of cycle routes:
	300 km of on-road cycle lanes;
	200 km of off-road, traffic free routes (fully segregated from traffic) and typically through parks and alongside waterways;
	1,500 km of on-road, signed cycle routes, much of this on quiet residential roads.

Energy Efficiency

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on energy efficiency in his Department's buildings.

Charlotte Atkins: The Department for Transport estate comprises some 1,170 diverse properties of varying size, use and nature of occupation. The best available information on energy usage in the Department is shown in the following table although there is some estimation involved and not all Department for Transport properties are able to provide data.
	
		
			  Total kWh 
			  2002–03 2003–04 Percentage -/+ 
		
		
			 Great Minster House (DfT HQ) 7,724,512 8,019,719 3.8 
			 Air Accidents Investigation Branch 619,420 591,322 -4.5 
			 Marine Accident Investigation Branch 71,018 98,879 39.2 
			 Driving Standards Agency 7,267,460 6,118,735 -15.8 
			 Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency 18,470,996 19,494,509 5.5 
			 Highways Agency 6,853,863 6,171,823 -10.0 
			 Maritime and Coastguard Agency 8,733,581 9,363,734 7.2 
			 Vehicle Certification Agency 496,136 449,875 -9.3 
			 Vehicle and Operators Services Agency 13,690,065 12,217,857 -10.8 
			 
			 Total 63,927,051 62,526,453 -2.2 
		
	
	Although there is some variation the overall trend is 2.2 per cent. down. The 3.8 per cent. increase in 2003–04 for energy use in the Department's headquarters building, Great Minster House, was primarily due to a rise in electricity consumption in the summer of 2003 for additional air conditioning to cope with the high temperatures during the period. It was necessary to provide comfortable working conditions for staff and protecting heat sensitive plant and equipment. Other increases were largely the result of better collection of data from additional sites (DVLA), the acquisition of additional accommodation (MAIB) and significant energy consuming refurbishment works outside normal working hours (MCA).
	All the electricity used in Great Minster House was obtained from 100 per cent. renewable sources. Some of the agencies such as DSA, MCA, VOSA and DVLA also purchase green energy.
	The Department and its agencies are currently considering what needs to be done to enable it to meet the energy targets set out under the Framework for Sustainable Development on the Government Estate.

Green Ministers

John Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how many meetings of the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers were attended by the Department's Green Minister in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04.

Charlotte Atkins: As my Department's Green Minister, I am a member of ENV(G) Committee.
	It has been established practice under successive Governments not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees. This practice is now formalised by Exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Journeys (Alternative Transport)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what percentage of journeys in (a) England, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) the City of York were taken by (i) walking, (ii) bicycle, (iii) private vehicle, (iv) bus, (v) other public road vehicle, (vi) rail and (vii) other means at the latest date for which figures are available.

Charlotte Atkins: The National Travel Survey provides the data requested for 2002–03 shown in the following table for the main method of transport used for residents of (a) England and (b) Yorkshire and the Humber. Data are not available for residents of York.
	
		Percentage/trips
		
			 2002–03 Yorkshire and the Humber England 
		
		
			 Walk 25 24 
			 Bicycle 1 2 
			 Private vehicle 66 65 
			 Local bus 6 6 
			 Other public road vehicle 1 1 
			 Rail (1)— 1 
			 Other means (1)— 1 
			 All modes 100 100 
		
	
	(1) Negligible (less than half the final digit shown).

Leeds Tram Network

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on the proposed tram network in Leeds.

Tony McNulty: The Secretary of State announced on 20 July 2004 that the current proposal for the proposed tram system in Leeds can no longer be approved, on the basis of cost escalation. The scheme was originally approved for government funding in March 2001. The public sector contribution was capped at £355 million (present value), however the estimated costs increased to more than £500 million. The promoters are now developing revised options and the Department for Transport has been assisting them in that work.

M1

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport for what reason all lanes on the northbound carriageway of the M1 motorway other than the hard shoulder were closed on the evening of 30 September between junctions 24 and 25; why such closure was allowed to take place before midnight; when he expects this stretch of motorway to be free of roadworks; and if he will make a statement.

David Jamieson: On the 30 September 2004 the northbound carriageway of the M1, between Junctions 24A and 25, was closed and the hard shoulder opened to traffic to enable essential maintenance works to be carried out to the River Trent bridge. The work required was extensive and took place from 27 September for five nights between the hours of 2200 and 0500, in order to avoid peak periods and minimise disruption to road users.
	This stretch of motorway is currently free from roadworks. Routine maintenance will be undertaken as required.
	The closure was facilitated under the provisions of a temporary Traffic Regulation Order and there was advance publicity in local newspapers and on the Highways Agency's website.

Ministerial Expenses

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much the Department spent on (a) maintenance, (b) renovation, (c) council tax and (d) running costs of residential properties used by Ministers and officials in each year since 1997.

Charlotte Atkins: The Department for Transport has no residential properties used by Ministers or officials.

Railways

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much has been spent by the Strategic Rail Authority on running the South Eastern franchise; and how much expenditure is projected for future years.

Tony McNulty: In the period from taking over the South Eastern franchise in November 2003 until the end of September 2004 the cost of the franchise was £85.6 million and the estimated expenditure for the period October 2004 to the end of March 2005 is £41.4 million. The budget beyond that has not yet been formulated.

Railways

John Thurso: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will list the rail passenger partnership schemes put forward to the Strategic Rail Authority (a) which have not been given funding approval and (b) in which construction has not taken place, broken down by (i) year of submission and (ii) cost of scheme.

Tony McNulty: The information requested is not readily available in the form requested. The following table lists the Rail Passenger Partnership scheme proposals that have been rejected since 1999.
	The bidding process is often iterative—involving detailed project development between the Strategic Rail Authority and the project sponsors—and it would therefore be difficult to be consistent about the exact date on which the submission of the scheme was formalised. Similarly it is difficult to provide final cost estimates for schemes as this would only be quantifiable when a project had reached the contractualisation stage.
	Schemes might be rejected for a number of reasons including failure to meet the SRA's value for money and affordability criteria or failure to secure adequate third party sponsorship.
	Rejected Rail Passenger Partnership Schemes
	Transpennine to Redcar
	Clyst Hayes Station
	Robin Hood Line
	STRP-Manchester-Clitheroe
	Heart of Wales Winter Sundays
	Provision of portable ramps on ATN train units.
	Leeds-Windermere Sunday Services
	Southminster Branch Line—Security Project
	Poulton—Dedicated Bus Link
	Wherry Line Station Improvement
	Stourbridge—Trial of Parry People Mover System
	Halesworth
	Hastings, Early Bird Service
	Ryde St. John's Park and Ride
	Penistone Line Partnership
	Stansted—Coachlink
	Southminster (Additional Security)
	Bedford Station Link
	Bristol Temple Meads
	Improvements to 5 stations in Plymouth area
	Kings Cross Fac"ade Renewal
	Watlington Car Park
	Cheshunt Interchange
	Wembley Central
	Diss Station Interchange
	Coast to Coast Sleeper services-Penzance-Edinburgh
	Additional Security Staff-Valley Line Wales
	Burnley-Station Improvements
	Plus Bus-Add on rail tickets for bus travel
	Airdrie Bathgate Bus Link
	Grazely Consortium-New Station
	Markinch-Rail/bus Interchange
	Taunton and Minehead
	Stourbridge—Trial of Parry People Mover System (2)
	Connex Stations—Improvements at four stations
	Conwy
	Bristol area frequency—Additional services
	Warwick Parkway
	Cheshunt Station (Bay Extension)
	Larkhall to Milngavie—Re-open for passenger services
	West Anglia—Customer Information Services at Stations
	Alloa to Glasgow—New station and additional Services
	Coleshill—Interchange
	Wales and West—Mark 11 Trains for Special Events
	Manchester airport
	Weardale Railway
	Wrexham to Bidston
	Paddington
	Windermere Branchline Upgrade
	Braintree Branch Line
	London Crosslink (Phases 1 and 2)
	Keswick to Penrith
	Sheffield Barnsley Leeds
	Newcastle Interchange

Rural Bus Challenge

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport how much money was allocated from the Rural Bus Challenge to Buckinghamshire in (a) 2001–02, (b) 2002–03, (c) 2003–04 and (d) 2004–05.

Charlotte Atkins: Buckinghamshire county council has been awarded funding for three Rural Bus Challenge projects and has received grant for these as follows:
	
		
			 Project Total award (£) Year of award Grant paid to date by financial year (£) 
		
		
			 Winslow Community Minibus 100,500 1998 50,705 1998–99 
			19,400 2000–01 
			18,065 2001–02 
			12,330 2002–03 
			 Easybus Project 985,000 1999 429,825 2000–01 
			154,500 2001–02 
			142,709 2002–03 
			197,590 2003–04 
			60,376 2004–05 
			 On Call Project 350,000 2002 151,255 2003–04

Rural Transport Partnership

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport 
	(1)  how much money was allocated from the Rural Transport Partnership for (a) dial-a-ride services, (b) car sharing schemes and (c) an internet based alternative transport guide for socially excluded groups in Buckinghamshire in (i) 2002–03, (ii) 2003–04 and (iii) 2004–05;
	(2)  how much was allocated in (a) 2002–03, (b) 2003–04 and (c) 2004–05 for the Rural Transport Partnership in Buckinghamshire.

Charlotte Atkins: Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes are served by a single Rural Transport Partnership. The funding allocated to the Partnership between 2002–03 and 2004–05 is set out in the following table.
	
		
			£ 
			  2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Total RTP funding 57,039 75,638 68,799 
			 Of which:
			 Dial a Ride 4,381 12,013 10,500 
			 Voluntary car schemes 8,023 14,506 (2)1,141 
			 Alternative Transport Guide 373 373 (2)0 
		
	
	(2) Funding for these schemes ended in early 2004.

Salisbury (Transport)

Robert Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport if he will make a statement on progress on the Salisbury Transportation Package.

Charlotte Atkins: In February 2004 the Government agreed to increase their contribution for this scheme by over £8 million, to £21.928 million, and currently there are two park and ride schemes under construction, at Wilton, due to be completed in February 2005, and Britford, due for completion by the end of March 2005.
	In addition, the Real Time Passenger Transport Information System, which is partially funded through this package, is undergoing system trials and it is hoped to be fully operational by the end of the year. This system will embrace bus routes radiating out from Salisbury that go as far a field as Trowbridge.

Speed Cameras

Greg Knight: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what guidance he has issued in respect of the trigger level for speed cameras in the past 12 months; and what changes have been made.

David Jamieson: Enforcement of the law is the responsibility of individual Chief Constables, who determine the speed at which their forces enforce speed limits, including the level at which speed cameras are triggered. This is not a matter for my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State. The Association of Chief Police Officers has recommended a minimum enforcement speed of 10 per cent. plus 2 mph above the speed limit, in its "Speed enforcement guidelines" to forces. The Department for Transport's current "Handbook of rules and guidance for the operation of the national road safety camera programme for England and Wales October 2003" notes this, but emphasises that the decision is a matter for individual Chief Constables.

Trams

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what plans the Government have to introduce tram networks in cities which have poor public transport systems.

Tony McNulty: In London, the introduction of tram networks is a matter for the Mayor. Elsewhere, in England, it is for local transport authorities to consider where tram schemes provide the best option, in the context of their Local Transport Plans. They would submit a major scheme bid to the Department for Transport following discussion with the Department. Any scheme would be considered on the basis of its value for money, including its wider benefits, and affordability.

ENVIRONMENT FOOD AND RURAL AFFAIRS

Beef Exports

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what progress her Department is making in promoting British beef exports into the countries of the European Union; and if she will make a statement.

Ben Bradshaw: British beef prepared under the Date-based Export Scheme is being exported to a number of EU countries. In the light of recent positive Opinions from the European Food Safety Authority, we will continue to work with the EU Commission to ensure that restrictions on UK beef exports are eased as quickly as possible. Promotion of beef exports is undertaken primarily by the Meat and Livestock Commission, as well as the beef industry itself.

Bird Predation

Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what account was taken of the Government research on bird predation published in 1999 when the amendments to the licensing system for the control of the cormorant population announced by the Parliamentary Secretary for Nature Conservation and Fisheries on 16 September were being drawn up.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 15 October 2004
	Over £1.5 million has been spent on research and development relating to fish-eating birds since the mid 1990s, covering population estimates, bird movements, feeding behaviour, impact studies and management techniques.
	The earlier research has contributed significantly to our understanding of the problem of fish-eating birds at inland fisheries and potential methods of resolving such conflicts. This research has demonstrated that cormorant conflicts at fisheries are site specific and this forms the basis for both the previous and new licensing strategies.
	The Department is continuing to research the potential of fish refuges. However, like all management tools—refuges have some limitations and it is unlikely that they will be the answer to all cormorant predation problems.

CITES

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what her policy is on the proposals at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species from Namibia and South Africa to increase their export quotas of (a) black rhino and (b) leopard.

Elliot Morley: Proposals concerning export quotas for black rhinoceros and leopard were considered by the 13th Conference of Parties on 4 October. The UK Government's agreed common position, along with the other EU member states, was as follows:
	(a) Black rhinoceros—We supported the amended Namibian proposal on condition that only adult males could be exported and that all hunting trophies would be marked with the country of origin, species, quota number and year of export. Similarly, following South Africa's amendment of their proposal reducing the annual quota from 10 to 5 animals, we supported it on the same basis. The amended proposal and draft resolution were adopted.
	(b) Leopard—Namibia and South Africa—The EU supported these proposals which were adopted.

Commercial Woodland

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what estimate she has made of the total area of commercial woodland and forestry in England that is owned (a) by Forest Enterprise and (b) by private landowners and public limited companies.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 18 October 2004
	Details of woodland ownership in England are collected as part of the National Inventory of Woodland and Trees, which was last completed in 1999. Estimates for a range of ownership types are shown in the following table:
	
		Area of woodland in England by ownership type(3)
		
			 Ownership type Hectare (thousand) 
		
		
			 Forestry Commission 223 
			 Other public body (not FC) 27 
			 Local authority 61 
			 Private forestry or timber business 7 
			 Other private business 147 
			 Personal 481 
			 Charity 68 
			 Community ownership or common land 4 
			 Unclassified 4 
			 Total 1,022 
		
	
	(3) National Inventory of Woodland and Trees, Forestry Commission 2000.

Corals

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps she is taking to protect ocean-bed corals, with particular reference to bottom-trawling.

Elliot Morley: The UK secured permanent protection for the Darwin Mounds cold water corals from bottom trawling through a Council Regulation agreed at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council in March 2004. This made permanent the emergency protection that was put in place from August 2003 under the revised Common Fisheries Policy.
	At the meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in February, the UK and EU were instrumental in calling for urgent action to protect vulnerable marine biodiversity from destructive practices in areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. We are pressing for this year's United Nations General Assembly resolution on "Oceans and the law of the sea" to set out how this can best be achieved.

Cormorants

Paul Beresford: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many cormorants will be licensed to be killed each of the first five years under the amendments to the licensing system for the control of the cormorant population announced by the Parliamentary Secretary for Nature Conservation and Fisheries on 16 September; what procedure will be used to judge what alternatives are available to the culling of cormorants; and what evidence will be used to authorise the culling of cormorants where damage to fish stocks has not occurred but is likely to occur.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 15 October 2004
	The number of cormorants licensed to be killed will depend on the number of applications received. The objective of the new licensing policy is not to reduce the cormorant population but to reduce damage caused by cormorants while protecting the conservation status of the cormorant population.
	Reports available on the Defra website at: http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/vertebrates/Reports.htm have explored the limits within which the licensing system may operate without risking the conservation status of the cormorant population. They do not recommend levels of population reduction.
	These reports predict that restricting the maximum number of birds killed in the long-term to below 2,000 per annum would, at most, suppress the population to a level lower than currently observed, but that this would be stable and unlikely to lead to long-term declines. The full effects of such a policy would take around five years to be fully apparent. Raising this figure in the first two years of a new policy would have little effect on long-term cormorant numbers.
	The intention is to review the maximum permissible number of licences on an annual basis, based on monitoring of licence numbers and the cormorant population. This will ensure that the maximum number of licences issued does not lead to unexpected or serious reductions in cormorant numbers beyond those predicted.
	The licensed removal of cormorants will only be considered where the applicant can demonstrate that they have considered alternative management measures and, where appropriate, have tested them.
	They will need to provide information on deterrents and measures currently being used to protect the stock (e.g. scaring devices, proofing) and methods tried and found to be ineffective or which are impracticable.
	The applicant will also need to demonstrate that significant numbers of cormorants are present at a site, that these are actively feeding and not just loafing or roosting at a site and that the site contains a resource at risk of significant damage by them. If the applicant can demonstrate these points, the new licensing system will presume that serious damage is occurring or there is a risk of serious damage.
	Where a site has recent past evidence that cormorant damage is likely to occur, for example, where they have previously been issued with a licence to remove cormorants to aid scaring under the previous system, their licence applications will be considered and assessed on the basis of protecting the site against the risk of cormorant numbers returning to the level that justified the previous licence.

Forest Enterprise

James Paice: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what the (a) net deficit and (b) change in capital and reserves from Forest Enterprise was in (i) 2002–03 and (ii) 1998–99; and what the projected sums are for (A) 2003–04 and (B) 2004–05.

Ben Bradshaw: holding answer 18 October 2004
	The net deficit and the change in capital reserves for Forest Enterprise across Great Britain are set out in the following table for 1998–99 and 2002–03 together with projections for 2003–04. The projected net deficit for 2004–05 is also shown. £ million
	
		
			  Net deficit Change in capital and reserves 
		
		
			 1998–99 82 -229 
			 2002–03 138 -233 
			 2003–04 (4)100 -13(4) 
			 2004–05 (5)50 (6)— 
		
	
	(4) Figures are provisional estimates pending completion of audit procedures and will be included as part of the Annual Accounts laid before Parliament by the Commission.
	(5) The figure for 2004–05 is the latest forecast and may be subject to revision should circumstances change.
	(6) The change in capital and reserves is calculated after the end of each financial year when the revaluation of the Commission's estate has been completed. It is not therefore possible to provide a forecast for 2004–05.

Gangmasters

Jim Sheridan: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs 
	(1)  if she will break down the information submitted on the ACU1 forms returned to the Inland Revenue Agricultural Compliance Unit in each of the last three financial years by (a) the number of gangmasters and employment agencies engaged for the first time by those using the services of a gangmaster or an employment agency and (b) the company name of each gangmaster or employment agency engaged for the first time by those using the services of a gangmaster or employment agency;
	(2)  if she will break down the information submitted on the ACU2 forms returned to the Inland Revenue Agricultural Compliance Unit in each of the last three financial years by (a) the (i) number and (ii) company name of gangmasters and employment agencies engaged by those using the services of a gangmaster or employment agency and (b) the total number of workers for whom the details required by the ACU2 form were provided.

Dawn Primarolo: I have been asked to reply.
	The information sought is not readily available and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost. The Inland Revenue is statutorily debarred from disclosing information relating to the tax affairs of individuals or public and private sector bodies and cannot divulge the details requested in section (b) of each question. Exemption 15 of the Code of Practice on Access on Government Information applies in this instance.

Green Ministers

John Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many meetings of the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers were attended by the Department's Green Minister in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04.

Elliot Morley: Lord Whitty is Defra's Green Minister and is a member of the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers. However, it has been established practice under successive Governments not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees. This practice is now formalised by Exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information. Consequently, I am unable to comment on meetings of the Sub-Committee.

Hunting

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many hunt kennels have applied for registration in each of her Department's regions; and how many have been licensed.

Ben Bradshaw: Hunt Kennels, which are collecting and treating animal by products for the purpose of supplying other premises, will require authorisation as a 'collection centre' under EU "Animal By-Products Regulation" (Regulation (EC) No 1774/2002). Such premises will also need to be authorised as a 'final user' if they feed on the premises as well as supplying.
	Those premises receiving feed obtained from a collection centre will require approval as a 'final user'.
	Information specifically relating to 'hunt kennels' is unavailable. Nationally as of 15 October 2004, 597 collection centres and final users had sought approval under the Regulation, 18 have been rejected, 451 have been approved and 128 are awaiting assessment by the State Veterinary Service as to whether or not an approval can be issued.
	Note:
	Not all of the animal by-product premises referred to are hunt kennels.
	The breakdown by the Department's Region's is as follows:
	
		Annex 1
		
			  Collection centres Final user 
		
		
			 North Region   
			 Applied 38 97 
			 Approved 38 94 
			
			 West Region   
			 Applied 33 40 
			 Approved 36 54 
			
			 East Region   
			 Applied 42 108 
			 Approved 33 133 
		
	
	Note:
	The information was obtained from the Animal By-Product Regulations Information System (ABPRIS), which is currently undergoing development. This information will be subject to change as/when the database has undergone a full and complete data cleansing exercise.

Intermediate Collection Centres

James Gray: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs how many intermediate collection centres have so far been licensed under the Animal By-Products Regulation in each of her Department's regions; and how many have applied for registration.

Ben Bradshaw: 87 intermediate plants have sought approval under the Regulation, three have been rejected, 76 have been approved and eight are awaiting assessment by the State Veterinary Service as to whether or not an approval can be issued. The breakdown by region is as follows:
	
		Intermediate plants
		
			  Applied Approved Rejected 
		
		
			 North Region 42 40 1 
			 West Region 15 14 1 
			 East Region 30 22 1 
		
	
	Note:
	The information contained in the table was obtained from the Animal By-Product Regulations Information System (ABPRIS), which is currently undergoing development. This information will be subject to change as/when the database has undergone a full and complete data cleansing exercise.

Water Framework Directive

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs what steps the Government are taking to ensure that the UK complies with the European Commission's Water Framework Directive.

Elliot Morley: The Water Framework Directive sets out a staged timetable up to 2015 for member states to transpose it into national law and implement its requirements.
	The Directive has been transposed throughout the UK, and notification of the UK competent authorities was sent to the European Commission on 22 June 2004.
	The next key stage is the characterisation of river basin districts. The competent authorities must complete an analysis of the pressures and impacts of human activity on the water environment by 22 December 2004, and a report on each of the river basin districts must be sent to the European Commission by 22 March 2005. The Environment Agency, the competent authority for England and Wales, is working hard to ensure timely delivery of this analysis. They published initial characterisation results for public review on 1 September 2004.

Water Framework Directive

Nick Harvey: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs when the Government plans to transpose the EU's Water Framework Directive into UK law.

Elliot Morley: The Government laid the regulations to transpose the Water Framework Directive in England and Wales in December 2003 and they entered into force on 2 January 2004. Two further sets of regulations covering the two river basin districts which cross the Scottish border (Northumbria and the Solway Tweed) came into force on 10 February 2004. The directive has also been transposed by the relevant administrations in Scotland, Northern Ireland and most recently in Gibraltar.

TREASURY

Census (Household Facilities)

Karen Buck: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer 
	(1)  what percentage of all households in England were sharing the use of a WC according to the (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001 census;
	(2)  what percentage of all households in England were sharing the use of a bathroom according to the (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001 census;
	(3)  what percentage of all households in England were living at a density of (a) more than two persons per room, (b) one and a half persons per room and (c) one person per room according to the (i) 1981, (ii) 1991 and (iii) 2001 census;
	(4)  what percentage of all households in England were lacking the use of a bathroom according to the (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001 census;
	(5)  what percentage of all households in England had the use of central heating in their dwelling according to the (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001 census;
	(6)  what percentage of all households were lacking the use of a hot water supply according to the (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001 census.

Stephen Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Ms Karen Buck, dated 20 October 2004
	As National Statistician and Registrar General for England and Wales I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Questions asking:
	1. what percentage of all households in England were sharing the use of a WC according to the (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001 census (192031)
	2. what percentage of all households in England were sharing the use of a bathroom according to the (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001 census (192033)
	3. what percentage of all households in England were living a density of (a) more than two persons per room (b) one and a half persons per room and (c) one person per room according to the (i) 1981, (ii) 1991 and (iii) 2001 census (192034)
	4. what percentage of all households in England were lacking the use of a bathroom according to the (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001 census (192035)
	5. what percentage of all households in England had the use of central heating in their dwelling according to the (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001 census (192036)
	6. what percentage of all households were lacking the use of a hot water supply according to the (a) 1981, (b) 1991 and (c) 2001 census (192037)
	Questions relating to household amenities vary between the Censuses. The percentages provided relate to the questions as asked at the time of each of the three Censuses. Where there are differences in definition the closest equivalent has been provided.
	
		1. Shared use of WC—England
		
			 Percentage of all households 
			  1981 1991 2001 
		
		
			 Shared inside WC 1.24 — — 
			 Lacking or sharing use of inside WC — 1.07 — 
			 Without sole use of bath/shower and toilet — — 0.49 
		
	
	Sources:
	Table 7 Census 1981 Housing and households for England and Wales, Table 8 Census 1991 Household Composition for Great Britain and Table UV60 Census 2001 Census Area Statistics for England and Wales
	
		2. Shared use of Bath—England
		
			 Percentage of all households 
			  1981 1991 2001 
		
		
			 Shared bath 1.35 — — 
			 Lacking or sharing use of bath/shower — 1.00 — 
			 Without sole use of bath/shower and toilet — — 0.49 
		
	
	Sources:
	Table 7 Census 1981 Housing and households for England and Wales, Table 8 Census 1991 Household Composition for Great Britain and Table UV60 Census 2001 Census Area Statistics for England and Wales
	
		3. Number of people per room—England
		
			 Percentage of all households 
			  1981 1991 2001 
		
		
			 Over 1.5 persons per room(7) 0.63 0.50 0.57 
			 Over 1 and up to 1.5 persons per room 2.76 1.61 1.32 
			 Up to 1 person per room 96.61 97.89 98.11 
		
	
	(7) Please note the census does not produce figures for over 2 persons per room.
	Sources:
	Table 5 Census 1981 Housing and households for England and Wales, Table 5 Census 1991 Household Composition for Great Britain and Table UV58 Census 2001 Census Area Statistics for England and Wales
	
		4. Lacking the use of a Bath—England
		
			 Percentage of all households 
			  1981 1991 2001 
		
		
			 No bath 1.78 — — 
			 Lacking or sharing use of bath/shower — 1.00 — 
			 Without sole use of bath/shower and toilet — — 0.49 
		
	
	Sources:
	Table 7 Census 1981 Housing and households for England and Wales, Table 8 Census 1991 Household Composition for Great Britain and Table UV60 Census 2001 Census Area Statistics for England and Wales
	
		5. Had the use of central heating—England
		
			  1991 2001 
		
		
			 Had the use of central heating(8) 81.47 91.47 
		
	
	(8) This question was first asked in 1991
	Sources:
	Table 8 Census 1991 Household Composition for Great Britain and Table UV60 Census 2001 Census Area Statistics for England and Wales
	6. Lacking the use of a hot water supply
	This question was not asked in any of the three Censuses and consequently no figures are available.

Fuel Duties

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what the duty is on a litre of (a) diesel, (b) leaded and (c) unleaded petrol; and how much it would have been if the fuel price escalator had not been abolished.

John Healey: The current duty rate on a litre of (a) ultra low sulphur diesel, (b) leaded petrol and (c) ultra low sulphur petrol is 47.10p per litre, 56.20p per litre and 47.10p per litre respectively.
	If the fuel duty escalator had been applied at every Budget since 2000 then the current duty rate on (a) ultra low sulphur diesel, (b) leaded petrol and (c) ultra low sulphur petrol would be 70.96p per litre, 79.48p per litre and 70.96p per litre respectively.

Drug Misuse

Tom Cox: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many deaths have been caused in the Greater London area as a result of people using class A drugs in the last year for which figures are available.

Stephen Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Tom Cox, dated 20 October 2004
	As National Statistician I have been asked to reply to your question asking how many deaths have been caused in the Greater London area as a result of people using Class A drugs in the last year for which figures are available. (192617)
	Figures are readily available from death certification on deaths due to drug poisoning. The most recent year for which figures are available is 2002. 1 In Greater London 2 in that year there were 160 deaths related to drug poisoning where a Class A drug was mentioned on the death certificate. 3
	Figures are not readily available where death was indirectly related to the use of Class A drugs as the direct cause is generally selected as the underlying cause of death (e.g. HIV infection).
	1 Data are for deaths occurring per calendar year
	2 Usual residence of the deceased.
	3 Defined using the following codes from the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision for 2002: FII-FI6, X40-X44. X60-X64, Y10-Y14,X85,wherea Class A drug was also mentioned on the death certificate.

Economic Indices

Bob Spink: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer by how much the (a) housing cost and (b) general inflation indices changed in each of the last 10 years.

Stephen Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Robert Spink, dated 20 October 2004
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your question, by how much the (a) housing cost and (b) general inflation indices changed in each of the last 10 years. (190974)
	The following table gives the annual average index numbers for housing costs and for the All Items Retail Prices Index (RPI) for the years 1994–2003, along with the corresponding annual percentage changes. The RPI provides the most appropriate basis for such comparisons because the Consumer Prices Index excludes most elements of owner-occupier housing costs. The figures for 2004 will become available with the release of the December figures on 18th January 2005.
	
		
			  RPI (Housing)(9) RPI (All items) 
			  Index Percentage Index Percentage 
		
		
			 1994 156.0 3.3 144.1 2.4 
			 1995 166.4 6.7 149.1 3.5 
			 1996 168.6 1.3 152.7 2.4 
			 1997 179.6 6.5 157.5 3.1 
			 1998 195.4 8.8 162.9 3.4 
			 1999 196.9 0.8 165.4 1.5 
			 2000 214.4 8.9 170.3 3.0 
			 2001 221.1 3.1 173.3 1.8 
			 2002 226.9 2.6 176.2 1.7 
			 2003 244.1 7.6 181.3 2.9 
		
	
	(9) Includes rent, mortgage interest payments, depreciation, council tax and rates, water and other charges, repairs and maintenance charges, do-it-yourself materials and dwellings insurance and ground rent.

European Structural Fund

Tom Cox: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much money was allocated to the London borough of Wandsworth from the European Structural Fund in each of the last three years.

Nick Raynsford: I have been asked to reply.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is responsible for the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) in England. The London borough of Wandsworth has not received any support from this European Structural Fund. However, £2,701,448 has been committed since October 2001 to date under the Objective 3 European Social Fund (ESF) programme to 13 organisations for 18 projects based in the London borough of Wandsworth.

Green Ministers

John Horam: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many meetings of the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers were attended by the Department's Green Minister in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04.

John Healey: I am the Treasury's Green Minister and in this role I am a member of the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers. It has been established practice under successive governments not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees. Exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information applies.

Information and Communication Specialists

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how much the Department spent on outside information technology and communication specialist consultants and engineers in the 2003–04 financial year.

Stephen Timms: In order to secure value for money for public spending, the Chancellor's Departments procure consultancy services through a range of centrally negotiated framework contracts.
	During 2003–04, Inland Revenue had major contracts with two strategic technology partners, EDS and Accenture, to provide its IT systems and support, including development and maintenance services.
	£300-£400 million is spent annually through these contracts. Expenditure incurred with EDS specifically on IT consultancy could be provided only at disproportionate cost. No IT consultancy services were obtained through the Accenture contract (which is purely for operational services). During 2003–04, Inland Revenue obtained additional IT consultancy services through a number of contracts let by other Government Departments or agencies, including the Office of Government Commerce's S-Cat, and its own framework contract with Computacenter (for the supply of IT equipment, software and associated services). Expenditure through these contracts was in the region of £28 million.
	HM Customs and Excise spend on IT consultancy in 2003–04 was in the region of £28 million. Information relating to HM Treasury could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Mobile Phones

Mark Prisk: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer how many mobile phones were used by (a) Ministers and special advisers and (b) officials in his Department in each year since 1997; how many were (i) lost and (ii) stolen; and what their cost was.

Stephen Timms: The information could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

ONS Neighbourhood Statistics

Paul Goodman: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what recent changes have been authorised in relation to the publication of statistics concerning marriage in the Office of National Statistics neighbourhood statistics; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: The information requested falls within the responsibility of the National Statistician, who has been asked to reply.
	Letter from Len Cook to Mr. Paul Goodman, dated 20 October 2004
	As National Statistician, I have been asked to reply to your recent Parliamentary Question concerning what changes have been authorised in relation to the publication of statistics concerning marriage in the Office of National Statistics neighbourhood statistics recently. (191714)
	There have been no recent changes in policy regarding the publication of marriage statistics through the Office for National Statistics Neighbourhood Statistics Service (NeSS). Census 2001 marital status statistics are already available through NeSS and registration service based marriage statistics would be made available if they could be produced at an appropriate geographic level and released in a non-disclosive manner. The issue is kept under regular review within the NeSS Programme.

Stamp Duty Exemptions

David Laws: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what his estimate is of the total number of residential property purchases in each year from 1990 to 2004; what his estimate is of the number of purchases in each year which were exempt from paying stamp duty as a consequence of the stamp duty threshold; and if he will make a statement.

Stephen Timms: The estimate of the total number of residential property purchases in England and Wales for each year from 1990 to 2003, along with the number of residential property purchases below the lowest stamp duty threshold, are given in the following table.
	
		
			   Thousand 
			  Residential property purchases below threshold(10) All residential property purchases 
		
		
			 1990 360 1,283 
			 1991 270 1,224 
			 1992 587 1,032 
			 1993 630 1,114 
			 1994 725 1,168 
			 1995 659 1,047 
			 1996 678 1,122 
			 1997 726 1,296 
			 1998 646 1,220 
			 1999 642 1,368 
			 2000 575 1,327 
			 2001 479 1,343 
			 2002 447 1,450 
			 2003 286 1,204 
		
	
	(10) The lowest threshold of stamp duty was £30,000 from 13 March 1984, £250,000 from 20 December 1991, £30,000 from 20 August 1992 and £60,000 from 16 March 1993.

Tax Credits

Greg Knight: To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer what assessment he has made of the effect on payments to working tax credit claimants of overtime working; and if he will make a statement.

Dawn Primarolo: The working tax credit was introduced in April 2003 and the deadline for finalising 2003–04 awards (except for the self-employed) was 30 September. As a result data on the effects on awards of changes in income are not yet available. The tax credits system disregards income rises from the previous tax year of up to £2,500, so tax credit recipients whose overtime increases their pay by up to this amount will not see any reduction in their current year's award.

EDUCATION AND SKILLS

GCSE (English and Maths)

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what proportion of pupils achieved GCSE grades A*-C in (a) English language and (b) mathematics in each of the last five years, broken down by local education authority area.

David Miliband: The information requested has been placed in the House of Commons Libraries.

Language Assistants (Coventry)

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many language assistants are employed in primary schools in Coventry.

David Miliband: This information is not collected centrally.

Student Loans

Chris Grayling: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills how many students who applied for student loans (a) before and (b) after the deadline are waiting for (i) the loan to be finalised and (ii) the money to be issued.

Kim Howells: Some 800,000 applications have been received to date, 521,000 of which were received on or before 2 July 2004 (which is the published deadline for new applications).
	All applicants who submitted a fully and properly completed application form on or before 2 July should receive, shortly after their university or college confirms their attendance, either a fully assessed loan payment or an interim payment (under our contingency arrangements for continuing students). Some 12,000 interim payments have been made to date, and these students will receive full assessments and a further loan payment (if appropriate) within a few weeks. A further 1,000 interim payments are scheduled for release once confirmation of the relevant students' attendance is received from the appropriate institutions.
	279,000 applications have been received since 2 July, of which fewer than 89,000 are still being processed. As is the case every year, a significant number of students have applied well after the published deadlines (some 94,000 applications have been received since early September). Local authorities and the Student Loans Company have never been able to guarantee payment at the start of term to late applicants. The Student Loans Company has paid over 530,000 loans to date, with a further 75,000 fully approved and scheduled for payment as soon as the students' attendance is confirmed by their institution.
	As in previous years, the Department has written to higher education institutions asking them to be supportive of students who do not have loans in place at the start of term.

Work-based Training

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills 
	(1)  what measures his Department is taking in conjunction with the Department of Trade and Industry to improve on-the-job training;
	(2)  what measures his Department is taking with other departments, to identify skill shortages and train up workers in those skills, with particular reference to (a) the Department of Trade and Industry and (b) the Home Office.

Ivan Lewis: The Skills Strategy White Paper "21st Century Skills—Realising Our Potential" sets out our programme to tackle the skills gap between the UK and its main economic competitors. It commits the Government and their key partners to a radical strategy of demand-led provision of skills steered by the needs of employers as expressed through a new Skills for Business Network and given a sharp regional focus through new Regional Skills Partnerships. The Government reported progress with delivering the strategy in their report published in July, "Skills Alliance: Skills Strategy Progress Report".
	The Skills Strategy is a cross-Government strategy, and not just a DfES one. A national Skills Alliance has been formed, bringing together the key Government Departments (DfES, DTI, Department for Work and Pensions, HM Treasury) with employer and union representatives in a new partnership, and linking the key delivery agencies in a concerted drive to raise skills. My right hon. Friends the Secretary of State for Education and Skills and the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry jointly chair the Skills Alliance Social and Economic Partners Group which brings Government together with CBI, TUC and Small Business Council to drive forward delivery of the Skills Strategy. A key element of this delivery agenda is a joint strategy for engaging with industry sectors across DTI and DfES. This includes the joint sponsorship of the Skills for Business Network of Sector Skills Councils (SSCs), to ensure that the network is the vehicle for both Departments to use in pursuing the sector skills agenda together. It will give a coherent employer voice into government and a coherent response back out again. For the first time the Skills Alliance brings together these key partners in terms of the customers of the skills and training systems—employers and employees—and all the key delivery agents.
	The Skills Strategy is about improving the technological and skills base of our industry, and thereby supporting business success, employment and prosperity. The growing network of UK-wide, employer-led SSCs has a key part to play in taking forward the national skills strategy. SSCs are experts on their sector, one of their key goals is to identify and address skills gaps and shortages. SSCs will work to increase opportunities to boost the skills and productivity of everyone in the sector's work force, including taking action on equal opportunities.
	We are working to improve the support to the low-skilled through the New Deal for Skills (NDfS) by creating a new intensive skills guidance service, co-located with Jobcentre Plus where possible, and improving mechanisms of financial support for those for whom training provides a route back to work.
	We recognise that there are variations in the skills base of different regions. This is being addressed by Regional Skills Partnerships (RSPs) which are being established in each region, co-ordinated by Regional Development Agencies (sponsored by DTI). RSPs involve LSC, Jobcentre Plus, Small Business Service and Skills for Business Network. They are bringing together skills and work force development with support for innovation and business development and labour market services in an integrated approach to deliver Regional Economic Strategies.
	For example, the DTI have recently implemented what we believe to be an excellent tool for business—Benchmark Plus—which enables business to understand better the link between the skills of its workforce and its overall performance. We will be piloting the use of Benchmark Plus within the Employer Training Pilots in preparation for a national programme.
	We are also working with the Home Office, Department of Trade and Industry and other Departments across government on ways by which selective and controlled migration can also help address skill shortages in the UK. This includes specific migration schemes such as the Highly Skilled Migration Programme as well as sector based schemes and developing new avenues for MBA graduates. We are developing a broader understanding of the role that migration has to play within the wider context of upskilling the UK work force as a whole.

DEFENCE

Consultants

John Maples: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the contracts awarded by his Department to consultants in each of the last five years, stating in each case (a) the name of the consulting company, (b) the value of the contract and (c) the purpose for which the contract was awarded; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: Summaries of the Ministry of Defence Expenditure on External Assistance, of which management consultancy is a part, are available in the Libraries of the Houses for the years 1995–96 to 2003–04.
	Specific expenditure information by company, value and contract for each of the last five years is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Deepcut Barracks

Kevin McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence 
	(1)  what recommendations were made by the Army Board of Inquiry held into the death of Cheryl James at Deepcut Barracks;
	(2)  how and when each recommendation made in the Board of Inquiry into the death of Cheryl James was implemented; what procedures and rules were altered as a result and what assessment the Army has made of each implementation; and if he will make a statement;
	(3)  what recommendations were made by the Army Board of Inquiry held into the death of Sean Benton at Deepcut Barracks;
	(4)  how and when each recommendation made in the Board of Inquiry into the death of Sean Benton was implemented; what procedures and rules were altered as a result; what assessment the Army has made of each implementation; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: I will write to the hon. Member and place a copy of my letter in the Library of the House.

Deepcut Barracks

Kevin McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what obstacles remain to the establishment of a board of inquiry into the death of Private Geoff Gray at Deepcut Barracks on 17 September 2001.

Adam Ingram: The Boards of Inquiry into the deaths of Privates Geoff Gray and James Collinson, who died at Deepcut on 23 March 2002, will be convened and run concurrently. Both Boards are being delayed so that their Terms of Reference may be informed by the conclusion of HM Coroner's investigation into the death of Private Collinson.

Defence Bases (Scotland)

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what quantities of (a) intermediate and (b) low level nuclear waste are stored at (i) HMNB Clyde Faslane and (ii) the Rosyth Royal Naval Base.

Adam Ingram: Information about the stocks of intermediate and low level radioactive waste held in the UK, including that held at HMNB Clyde and the Rosyth Royal Dockyard, is regularly published in the United Kingdom Radioactive Waste Inventory. It provides periodic snapshots of waste stocks, including levels of waste, location and whether the waste is held in temporary or permanent storage. The latest edition was published in October 2002 and is available in the Library of the House. A new inventory is due to be published in 2005.

Departmental Vehicles

David Kidney: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many road vehicles are operated by the Department and its agencies; how many personal injury accidents involving road vehicles operated by the Department have occurred within each of the last five years; and what the Department's policy is for managing work-related road safety.

Ivor Caplin: There are approximately 70,400 vehicles which use the road currently operated by the Ministry of Defence and its agencies. This includes both operational and non-armoured vehicles (B Vehicles) and the non-operational fleet (White Fleet). This figure does not however include vehicles that may have been purchased under local ad hoc arrangements and are consequently not managed by the Defence Logistics Organisation. The exact numbers could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	The following table shows the numbers of personal injury accidents involving road vehicles operated by the Department over the five year period from January 2000.
	
		
			  Accidents 
		
		
			 January to December 2000 628 
			 January to December 2001 554 
			 January to December 2002 525 
			 January to December 2003 503 
			 January to July 2004 194 
		
	
	The MOD's policy for managing work-related road safety is set out in detail in the Joint Service Publication (JSP)—341 Defence Road Transport Regulations, (chapter 16). I will place a copy of this in the Library of the House. In addition JSP 485—The Defence Annual Road Safety Report for 2003–2004 is expected to be available early next year.
	I also refer my hon. Friend to the answer given by my hon. Friend the Minister for the Cabinet Office on 22 July 2004, Official Report, column 490W, and the letter from Mr. Nick Matheson of the Government Car and Despatch Agency.

English Regiments

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which of the existing English regiments have never been amalgamated.

Ivor Caplin: The following English Regiments have never been amalgamated:
	The Royal Tank Regiment
	Grenadier Guards
	Coldstream Guards
	The Green Howards
	The Cheshire Regiment
	The Parachute Regiment
	Special Air Service Regiment

Equipment Usage

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what limitations there are on equipment usage for each type of operation.

Adam Ingram: The level of equipment usage in any particular operation depends heavily on the specific demands of that operation, the nature of any United Kingdom military contribution and other concurrent commitments. Where extra equipment support costs are incurred due to increased usage on operations, the net additional costs of such activity are met from the Treasury's Reserve. Where capabilities are required in addition to those already in service with UK armed force, the Urgent Operational Requirements (UOR) process can be used, for example, to advance equipment acquisition plans or to modify in-service equipment. The financial arrangements governing UORs are agreed with the Treasury for each operation.

Eurocorps

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what (a) manpower and (b) financial commitment has been assigned to Eurocorps.

Adam Ingram: Until March 2004, the United Kingdom's contribution to Eurocorps consisted of one Army Colonel and one Warrant Officer, 2nd Class, who were liaison officers within the Headquarters. In Financial Year 2003–04 the total cost of this contribution was £156,271.
	Following the recent review of UK representation in NATO, the contribution was withdrawn. There are no current plans to renew the contribution.

Firearms Rules

Kevin McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what rules govern officers and soldiers being in possession of non-authorised personal firearm and ammunition (a) within barracks and (b) on patrol or otherwise on duty in (i) Great Britain, (ii) Northern Ireland, (iii) Germany, (iv) Afghanistan, (v) Bosnia and (vi) Iraq.

Adam Ingram: Only authorised Service firearms and ammunition may be issued to personnel on security duties in situations other than operations (within barracks and on patrol or otherwise on duty in Great Britain and Germany). On operations (Northern Ireland, Afghanistan, Bosnia and Iraq) the carriage of weapons and ammunition must be authorised by commanders in accordance with UK National Rules of Engagement. UK firearms legislation prohibits the possession and use, by servicemen, of unauthorised personal weapons and ammunition. UK law is applied to troops deployed on operations overseas.

Former Service Personnel (Employment)

Kevin McNamara: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what guidance he has given Army Personnel Services on monitoring assistance given for the recruitment of former soldiers as (a) mercenaries and (b) operatives in private and personal security companies.

Adam Ingram: None.

Gibraltar

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will place in the Library copies of the Whitley Committee Minutes of the Ministry of Defence Gibraltar Services Police for the past three years.

Adam Ingram: Copies of the Gibraltar Service Police Whitley Committee Minutes for the last three years have been placed in the Library of the House Commons.

Gibraltar

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the establishment of the Ministry of Defence Gibraltar Services Police is at each rank.

Adam Ingram: The Gibraltar Service Police Establishment is as follows:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 Chief Superintendent 1 
			 Chief Inspectors 2 
			 Inspectors 6 
			 Sergeants 15 
			 Constables 103 
			 Typist 1 
			 El (part-time) 1 
			 Receptionists 12 
			 Storekeeper 1 
			 Labourer 1

Gibraltar

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the governance and accountability mechanisms are for the Gibraltar Services Police; what arrangements allow for a statutory Police Federation; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: The Gibraltar Services Police (GSP) is a statutory police force established under the Police Ordinance (Laws of Gibraltar). The Chief Police Officer GSP is the competent authority appointed by His Excellency the Governor of Gibraltar and is responsible to Commander British Forces Gibraltar, for the recruitment, training, supervision and general efficiency of the Force. The Gibraltar Trade Union Ordinance does not make provision for a statutory Police Federation but allows for the inscription of approved Unions and Associations. The Gibraltar Services Police Association is recognised by the Government as the representative body for Constables and Sergeants.

Gibraltar

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will investigate the complaint made by Marrache and Co. Solicitors, on behalf of the representative body of constables and sergeants of the Gibraltar Services Police set out in their letter of 20 August to Northwood Headquarters; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: The Whitley committee remains the correct forum to address the issues raised by the Gibraltar Service Police Staff Association and Marrache and Co. Solicitors in their letters of 20 August 2004. The Ministry of Defence remains committed to constructive dialogue with the Gibraltar Service Police Staff Association, and the MOD management team in Gibraltar will continue to address their members' concerns locally through the Whitley process.

Gibraltar

Andrew MacKinlay: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence who is responsible for negotiating pay and conditions of service for the Gibraltar Services Police; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: Following negotiations in 1979 between the Ministry of Defence and Gibraltar Service Police Staff Association, agreement was reached re-affirming their commitment to the analogue principle enunciated by Sir Jack Scamp in his report. The Gibraltar Services Police (GSP) analogue is the Ministry of Defence Police in the United Kingdom. Any pay conditions applicable to Ministry of Defence Police are automatically applied to GSP.

Green Ministers

John Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many meetings of the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers were attended by the Department's Green Minister in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04.

Ivor Caplin: I represent the Ministry of Defence on ENV(G), the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers. It has been established practice under successive Governments not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees. I am therefore withholding the information requested under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Helsinki Headline Goal

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what the expected maximum percentage of troops offered by the UK under the Helsinki Headline Goal will be infantry.

Adam Ingram: A member state's declaration to the Headline Goal indicates the range of forces that could be made available to support potential EU operations. It does not bind the member state to providing the forces declared for any specific mission.
	The United Kingdom currently declares up to 12,500 troops towards the Helsinki Headline Goal, up to 35 per cent. of which are infantry troops.

Helsinki Headline Goal

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which components of the UK's commitment to the Helsinki Headline Goal comprise an (a) armed mechanical brigade and (b) amphibious brigade.

Adam Ingram: The United Kingdom currently offers:
	Three brigades from the Army to HG2010. The three brigades offer a degree of flexibility that allows the UK to provide either an Armoured Brigade (based on Warrior Armoured Fighting Vehicles and Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks), a Mechanised Brigade (based on Saxon Infantry Fighting Vehicles and Challenger 2 Main Battle Tanks) or an Air Assault Brigade consisting of lightly equipped infantry in the Air Manoeuvre role.
	One amphibious brigade from the Royal Navy to HG2010.
	A member state's declaration to the Headline Goal indicates the range of forces that could be made available to support potential EU operations. It does not bind the member state to providing the forces declared for any specific mission.

Infantry Battalions

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 4 October 2004, Official Report, column 1876W, on Infantry Battalions, what the expected financial savings will be in pounds sterling from the reduction of four infantry battalions.

Adam Ingram: As I explained in my answer of 4 October 2004, Official Report, column 1876W, the manpower freed up from the reduction from 40 to 36 in infantry battalions will be reinvested elsewhere across the Army as part of the implementation of a new Army Structure. The driver behind this exercise, therefore, is not financial; rather it reflects the need to ensure that the Army of the future is properly configured to meet the priorities and challenges of the future, rather than the past.

Iraq

Bob Russell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of HM Forces have been retired on medical grounds as a result of injuries sustained in Iraq.

Ivor Caplin: As of 1 September 2004 centrally held records show that six Service personnel have been medically discharged from the armed forces as a result of injuries sustained in Iraq while deployed on Operation Telic between 18 January 2003 and 30 June 2004.

Iraq

Harry Cohen: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether a British soldier was killed as a result of a bomb attack on a military fuel truck on the al-Faw highway south of al-Basrah on 5 September; and if he will make a statement.

Adam Ingram: No. UK armed forces in Iraq did not suffer any fatalities on 5 September 2004.

Iraq

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether British forces in Iraq have cut off water supplies to civilians.

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether British forces have cut off water supplies to civilians (a) during the recent war and (b) since the end of the conflict in Iraq.

Adam Ingram: No. It is possible that local temporary disruptions may have occurred at some time due to damage from combat with anti Iraqi forces, but we are not aware of any actual cases where this has happened.

Iraq

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what studies are being undertaken into the effect of depleted uranium weapons on the population of Iraq.

Ivor Caplin: Studies to determine the effect, if any, of depleted uranium (DU) munitions on the Iraqi population are not a matter for Ministry of Defence. However, it is UK Government policy to assist the Iraqi Interim Government in matters concerning the well being of its local people and its environment.
	The World Health Organisation (WHO) is currently seeking international funding for its proposals for
	"population-based case-control studies on the association between the incidence of various cancers and exposure to DU and other environmental risk factors in Iraq."
	In parallel with the WHO proposals, the United Nations Environment Programme's (UNEP) Post-Conflict Assessment Unit plans to examine DU levels in the environment as part of a wider study into how various contaminants from the conflict may impact the local population.

Land Disposals

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the Comprehensive Spending Review, what the financial target for land disposals in his Department over the next three years is; how many of the sites involved are in Hampshire; and if he will make a statement.

Ivor Caplin: As part of the 2004 Spending Review, the Ministry of Defence agreed with HM Treasury a target of £560 million in respect of receipts from the disposal of surplus land (including buildings) for the period 1 April 2005 to 31 March 2008. So far, 12 sites have been identified in Hampshire, which are likely to be disposed of in that period. These are listed as follows, but sites could be withdrawn or added as our plans develop.
	West Dean, DMC Dean Hill Main Site and adjacent land.
	Andover, Site A, Monxton Road
	Portsmouth, HMS Daedalus
	Gosport, Property at frontage of DM Gosport in Fareham Road
	Aldershot—Burger King Site
	Farnborough—Queensgate site
	Farnborough—Former Officers Mess
	Farnborough—Civil enclave
	Portsmouth, Eastney Sports Ground
	Portsmouth, Fleet Photographic Unit
	Church Crookham—Pumphouse Site
	Farnborough—Air Accident Investigation Branch Site

Medical Testing

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what facilities there are for medical testing of UK military personnel returning from Iraq; and whether results of such tests will be made public.

Ivor Caplin: If any member of the armed forces who has served in Iraq has concerns over their health, they are encouraged to report to their medical centre, or NHS GP in the case of reservists, in the first instance. If appropriate, they may be referred to the Gulf Veterans' Medical Assessment Programme (GVMAP) for further medical checks. There are currently no plans to release information on the health of Operation Telic veterans who have presented to the GVMAP.
	In addition, all UK personnel who have served in the Iraq theatre of operations are able to request biological monitoring for depleted uranium if they are concerned about possible exposure. The Ministry of Defence's policy for biological monitoring for depleted uranium is published on MOD's internet site at: www.mod.uk/issues/depleted uranium/du biomonitoring.htm which also contains some information on the findings of the monitoring.
	All reservists receive routine demobilisation medical screening on discharge from full-time service. The results of these tests are not released as this would breach medical confidentiality.

Military Operating Structures

Ann Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence pursuant to the answer of 4 October 2004, Official Report, column 1882W, on military operating structures, what differences exist between the operating structures of the (a) Queen's and Light Division and (b) Prince of Wales's and King's Division.

Ivor Caplin: The only significant difference in structure between the Queen's and Light Divisions and the Prince of Wales's and King's Divisions is that regiments within the Queen's and Light Divisions contain two battalions each, while regiments within the Prince of Wales's and King's Divisions contain one battalion each.

MOD Police and Guarding Agency

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the customers of the Ministry of Defence Police and Guarding Agency; and what the funded and agreed customer taskings set for the financial year 2004–05 are.

Ivor Caplin: For ease of visibility, the customers of the Ministry of Defence Police (MDP) and those of the Ministry of Defence Guard Service (MGS) are shown separately.
	Internal MDP customers are as follows:
	Top Level Budgets (TLBs)
	Defence Logistics Organisation
	Defence Procurement Agency
	Commander-in-Chief Land Command (CinC Land)
	Adjutant General
	RAF including Strike Command and Personnel Training Command (STC and PTC)
	Navy including 2nd Sea Lord and Commander-in-Chief Fleet (CinC Fleet)
	Centre Top Level Budget (CTLB)
	Trading Fund
	Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl).
	MDP External customers are as follows:
	United States Visiting Forces (USVF)
	Royal Mint
	QinetiQ
	Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO).
	The tasking and funding agreements for MDP internal customers are laid out in Customer Supplier Agreements that both parties sign. External customer agreements are in the form of Memorandum of Understanding, Protocols, Contracts and Service Level Agreements.
	The outputs of the MDP are the provision of Armed Security, Uniformed Policing and the Investigation of Serious Crime. Each negotiated agreement describes the degree and detail of the outputs required for each customer.
	The following Customer Supplier Agreements/Protocol Documents have been signed:
	
		
			  Cost (£ million) 
		
		
			 DLO 60.379 
			 CinCLAND 2.872 
			 Adjutant General 1.236 
			 RAF PTC 0.195 
			 RAF STC 6.68 
			 Navy 2nd Sea Lord and CinC Fleet 3.105 
			 Centre TLB 6.979 
			 Dstl (11)— 
			 Royal Mint (11)— 
			 FCO (12)— 
		
	
	(11) Commercial in confidence
	(12) Variable MDP costs that can be reclaimed
	The following Customer Supplier Agreements/Memorandum of Understanding have not yet been signed—the value of each unsigned agreement is also indicated where appropriate:
	
		
			  Value to MDP (£ million) 
		
		
			 DLO 19.876 
			 DPA 3.799 
			 QinetiQ (13)— 
			 USVF (14)— 
		
	
	(13) Commercial in confidence
	(14) Subject of a Memorandum of Understanding in which actual monies are reclaimed
	Please note that MDP service to the Atomic Weapons Establishment is not a repayment task to MDP. MDP is voted this money as part of its annual budget, the contractor does not pay this cost.
	The Ministry of Defence Guard Service (MGS) provides unarmed guards to each of the Ministry of Defence's Top Level Budgets (TLBs) and Trading Funds (TFs). The customer's requirement and the MGS's commitment to provide the unarmed guarding task are agreed with each TLB and TF, and are set out in overarching Customer Supplier Agreements (CSAs), together with the agreed level of funding for the overall tasks. The detailed tasking for each site within each TLB and TF is contained in separate appendices to each CSA.
	The description of the service provided by the MGS to its customers is common to all of its CSAs:
	"The delivery of a professional unarmed guard service to [the customer] which meets the required level of output, quality, timeliness and cost."
	The customers and the level of funding for FY 2004–05 are listed below:
	
		
			 TLBs Funding (£) 
		
		
			 Central TLB 10.33 million 
			 Commander-in-Chief Fleet 2.245 million 
			 2nd Sea Lord/Commander-in-Chief Naval  Home Command 3.904 million 
			 Commander-in-Chief Land Command 45.5 million 
			 Adjutant General 1.101 million 
			 Commander-in-Chief Strike Command 3.176 million 
			 Commander-in-Chief Personnel and  Training Command 2.682 million 
			 Defence Logistics Organisation 19.424 million 
			 Defence Procurement Agency 1.83 million 
			 Chief of Joint Operations 953,000 
		
	
	
		
			 Trading Funds Funding (£) 
		
		
			 Defence Aviation Repair Agency  
			 Defence Science and Technology Laboratory 3.183 million 
			 UK Hydrographic Office  
			 Meteorological Office  
		
	
	Other
	RAF Menwith Hill—United States Visiting Forces. Subject of a CSA in which actual monies are reclaimed.

Operation Fresco Zulu 2

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on Operation Fresco Zulu 2.

Adam Ingram: The armed forces began the implementation of Operation Fresco Zulu 2, the provision of national emergency fire cover, on 4 August 2004. Some 3,800 personnel from across the three Services had begun preparatory activities when the local authority employers and the Fire Brigades Union reached an agreement that ended their dispute. The armed forces were stood-down on 27 August.

Regimental Amalgamations

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence whether the Government takes account of a regiment's history when deciding which regiments to amalgamate.

Adam Ingram: The infantry is to restructure as part of the wider plans to transform the armed forces as announced by my right hon. Friend the Defence Secretary on 21 July 2004, Official Report, column 343. This transformation reflects the need to ensure that the armed forces are structured, equipped and trained in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century. History and tradition are, of course important to the ethos and culture of the Army, and as such are being taken into account as part of the restructuring process.

Service Personnel (Asbestos-related Disease)

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many current or former Service personnel have (a) been diagnosed with and (b) died from asbestos-related diseases related to their Service in the armed forces in each of the last five years.

Ivor Caplin: The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) lists four main diseases associated with the inhalation of asbestos fibres. These are: asbestosis, mesothelioma, asbestos-related lung cancer and diffuse pleural thickening.
	Between 1 January 1999 and 31 December 2003, centrally held records in the Ministry of Defence indicate that no serving Service personnel have been diagnosed with, or died from, these diseases as a direct result of exposure to asbestos.
	With the exception of ongoing MOD health studies being undertaken upon veterans of the 1990–91 Gulf Conflict by the Ministry of Defence, there is no health data routinely collected on former Service personnel. It is not possible therefore to provide a comprehensive answer on whether former Service personnel have subsequently been diagnosed with asbestos-related diseases.

SCOTLAND

Priority Homelessness

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland what the level of priority homelessness in Scotland was in each year from 1993 to the establishment of the Scottish Parliament.

Anne McGuire: The level of priority homelessness in Scotland in each year from 1993 to 1999 was as shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Period All applications Assessed as homeless and as in priority need As percentage of all applications 
		
		
			 1992–93 42,822 19,800 46 
			 1993–94 43,038 18,200 42 
			 1994–95 41,495 17,500 42 
			 1995–96 40,936 16,900 41 
			 1996–97 40,989 16,800 41 
			 1997–98 43,135 17,600 41 
			 1998–99 45,723 18,400 40

Ministerial Expenses

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how much the Department spent on (a) maintenance, (b) renovation, (c) council tax and (d) running costs of residential properties used by Ministers and officials in each year since 1997.

Anne McGuire: The Scotland Office was established in July 1999.
	The Office has no residential properties used by Ministers or officials.

Wind Farms

George Foulkes: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland how many wind farms have received planning consent in Scotland in 2004.

Anne McGuire: My right hon. Friend will be aware that consents for wind farms in Scotland are a devolved function of Scottish Ministers and local planning authorities.
	However, I understand that during 2004, three new wind farms have been approved by Scottish Ministers under the Electricity Act 1989. These wind farms have a generating capacity of about 355MW.

CABINET OFFICE

Civil Service Pensions/Sick Pay

Parmjit Dhanda: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will make a statement on (a) the implementation of the Government's proposal to raise the pension age in the civil service and (b) proposals for the future of sick pay in the civil service.

Ruth Kelly: The Government's Green Paper, "Simplicity, security and choice: working and saving for retirement" (Cm 5677), issued in December 2002, proposed that the rules of public service schemes should be changed to make an unreduced pension payable from age 65 rather than 60. Our intention to proceed with the proposal through reviews of public service schemes in consultation with employers and employee representatives was confirmed in our Action Plan, "Action on occupational pensions" (Cm 5835), issued in June 2003.
	Notices were issued to all civil servants to inform them of the Government's intentions. These said that a pension age of 65 would apply to new entrants to the civil service by the end of 2006, and gave commitments that those existing staff aged over 50 at the time of the announcements would only be minimally affected.
	More detailed proposals for the implementation of the increase in pension age are being worked up, and we expect further information to be provided to existing staff later this year.
	Departments and agencies have delegated authority to determine the terms and conditions for payments to staff related to sickness absence. This is subject to the conditions set out in the Civil Service Management Code.
	Access to sick pay during absence forms part of the agenda of the reviews of sickness absence in the civil service announced by my right hon. Friend the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the Spending Review. Both reviews are due to report back later in the autumn.

Consultants

John Maples: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will list the contracts awarded by her Department to consultants in each of the last five years, stating in each case (a) the name of the consulting company, (b) the value of the contract and (c) the purpose for which the contract was awarded; and if she will make a statement.

Ruth Kelly: I refer the hon. Member to the answer given to the hon. Member for North-East Hertfordshire (Mr. Heald) on 10 March 2004, Official Report, columns 562–63W.
	The Cabinet Office and the Central Office of Communication have spent £16,328,478 during 2003–04 on consultancy.
	Expenditure on consultancy during that period included improvements in the Information Technology (IT) and financial IT structures of the Cabinet Office, accommodation upgrade at the Emergency Planning College, restructuring of Management Units, procurement advice, business continuity plans, IT security certification and implementing an electronic documentation handling system.
	Cabinet Office typically uses consultants to provide particular skills or expertise that are required to progress an initiative or project but are not available (or required long-term) within the Department.

Engagements

Edward Garnier: To ask the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster if he will list his official engagements since his appointment to his present Cabinet post.

Alan Milburn: Since my appointment as Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, I have had a range of official meetings including meetings with Cabinet colleagues relating to my cross-Government role in the co-ordination of Government policy; my responsibilities for the work of the Strategy Unit and the Policy Directorate; my Duchy of Lancaster role; and my membership of Cabinet.

Strategy and Delivery Units

Julian Lewis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office who the members of (a) the Strategy Unit were for each year since June 2002 and (b) the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit were for each year since June 2001; what their (i) titles and (ii) salaries were in each case; and what the overall costs of each were in each year.

Alan Milburn: Details of the Senior Management teams of both the Strategy Unit and the Delivery Unit are set out in the Civil Service Year Book. A copy of which is available in the Library.
	Information about salaries of individual civil servants is not disclosed in order to protect their privacy under exemption 12 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.
	For information on the costs of both units I refer the hon. Member to the replies given by my hon. Friend the Member for Paisley, South (Mr. Alexander) on 1 April 2004, Official Report, column 1558W and 14 July 2004, Official Report, column 1196W.

Strategy and Delivery Units

Julian Lewis: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office if she will publish an executive summary of the output of (a) the Strategy Unit for each year since June 2002 and (b) the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit for each year since 2001.

Alan Milburn: The work of the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit and that of the Strategy Unit are outlined in the Cabinet Office departmental report 2004.
	Further information on the Strategy Unit and the Prime Minister's Delivery Unit can be found at www.strategy.gov.uk and via Professor Michael Barber's presentations to the Prime Minister's Press Conferences: http://www.number-10.gov.uk/output/Page6153.asp.
	Departmental progress against the Government's Public Service Agreement (PSA) targets is available on the HM Treasury website: http://www.hm-treasury. gov.uk/performance/.

HOME DEPARTMENT

Animal Welfare

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make it his policy to enable the disclosure of information about animal testing by the repeal of section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: I refer the hon. Member to my written statement to the House on 1 July 2004, Official Report, column 17WS, in which I announced that section 24 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986 is to be retained for the time being and will be reviewed again in two years' time. In that statement, I also announced plans to increase openness about the use of animals in scientific procedures by publishing anonymised information about projects licensed under the 1986 Act as part of the Home Office publication scheme under the Freedom of Information Act. This can be done without repealing section 24 and will entail the publication of abstracts of project licences on the Home Office website. We expect to publish the first such abstracts later this year. In addition, the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate will also publish it's first annual report by the end of 2004.

ASBOs

Paul Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) juveniles, (b) young offenders and (c) adults in England and Wales have been sentenced to immediate custody for breach of an antisocial behaviour order in each of the last 24 months.

Paul Goggins: The information requested, obtained from the Home Office Court Proceedings Database, for the years 2001 and 2002, is shown in the table.
	Statistics for 2003 will be published in November.
	
		Persons sentenced to immediate custody(15)for breaches of anti social behaviour orders, by month(16), England and Wales, 2001–02
		
			 Month and year Juveniles (aged 10 to 17) Young offenders (aged 18 to 20) Adults (aged 21+) Total 
		
		
			 2001 
			 January 5 — 6 11 
			 February 2 — 1 3 
			 March 5 1 3 9 
			 April 3 1 2 6 
			 May 5 — 10 15 
			 June 1 1 4 6 
			 July 6 1 2 9 
			 August 3 5 6 14 
			 September 3 — 6 9 
			 October 2 4 1 3 8 
			 November 6 4 2 12 
			 December 7 2 3 12 
			 Total 50 16 48 114 
			  
			 2002 
			 January 2 1 6 9 
			 February 3 4 7 14 
			 March 8 5 2 15 
			 April 4 3 8 15 
			 May 5 5 15 25 
			 June 4 4 7 15 
			 July 6 4 6 16 
			 August 7 3 13 23 
			 September 8 1 9 18 
			 October 10 4 10 24 
			 November 4 3 9 16 
			 December 8 6 8 22 
			 Total 69 43 100 212 
		
	
	(15) Includes unsuspended imprisonment, detention in a young offender institution and detention and training orders.
	(16) A person may appear more than once in the table if sentenced to immediate custody for the breach of their ASBO on more than one occasion during the period.
	Source:
	Home Office Court Proceedings Database.

Community Sentences

Paul Stinchcombe: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many (a) men and (b) women in England and Wales have been sentenced to immediate custody for breach of a community sentence in (i) each of the last 24 months and (ii) each year since 1992.

Paul Goggins: The information requested for the years 1992 to 2002, relating to persons of all ages, is contained in the following table.
	Statistics for 2003 will be published in November.
	
		Persons(17) sentenced to immediate custody(18) for breaches of community sentences,(19) England and Wales, 1992–2002
		
			 Month and year Male Female Total 
		
		
			 1992 2,361 51 2,412 
			 1993 2,909 6.4 2,973 
			 1994 5,291 228 5,519 
			 1995 5,914 238 6,152 
			 1996 6,265 323 6,588 
			 1997 6,779 426 7,205 
			 1998 5,928 473 6,401 
			 1999 6,925 648 7,573 
			 2000 7,583 740 8,323 
			 2001 7,286 817 8,103 
			 2002 8,151 936 9,087 
			 
			 January 2001 555 71 626 
			 February 2001 692 65 757 
			 March 2001 647 61 708 
			 April 2001 587 59 646 
			 May 2001 588 62 650 
			 June 2001 599 78 677 
			 July 2001 638 67 705 
			 August 2001 608 74 682 
			 September 2001 573 65 638 
			 October 2001 694 79 773 
			 November 2001 653 79 732 
			 December 2001 452 57 509 
			 January 2002 684 64 748 
			 February 2002 720 69 789 
			 March 2002 666 71 737 
			 April 2002 700 84 784 
			 May 2002 793 107 900 
			 June 2002 546 69 615 
			 July 2002 673 83 756 
			 August 2002 715 79 794 
			 September 2002 699 93 792 
			 October 2002 770 84 854 
			 November 2002 672 75 747 
			 December 2002 513 58 571 
		
	
	(17) Includes a person more than once if sentenced to immediate custody for a breach of more than one type of community sentence on the same day.
	(18) Includes partly suspended sentences (to 1992), unsuspended imprisonment, secure training orders (1998 to 2000), detention in a young offender institution and detention and training orders (from 2000).
	(19) Includes probation orders (community rehabilitation orders from April 2001), supervision orders, community service orders (community punishment orders from April 2001), attendance centre orders, combination orders (community punishment and rehabilitation orders from April 2001), curfew orders, reparation orders (from June 2000), action plan orders (from June 2000), drug treatment and testing orders (from October 2000) and referral orders (from April 2002).

Crime

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many anti-social behaviour orders have been issued to people in York.

Hazel Blears: Anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) have been available to the courts since 1 April 1999. Information held centrally up to 31 May 2000 is for the number of ASBOs issued within England and Wales by police force area only. From 1 June 2000, up to 31 March 2004 (latest available), the Home Office has been notified of 12 ASBOs issued where restrictions imposed are specific to the City of York council area.

Crime

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many violent offences were recorded in (a) Greater London and (b) each London borough in each of the last 10 years; and how many successful convictions there were for violent offences in each of the last 10 years.

Paul Goggins: The available statistics are given in the table.
	
		Violent crimes recorded by the police(20)
		
			 Area 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998–99(21) 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 Greater London 70,784 79,701 75,005 90,042 87,634 166,551 202,981 205,632 225,522 
			 City of London 312 177 175 181 241 570 595 605 672 
			 Metropolitan(22) 70,472 79,524 74,830 89,861 87,393 165,981 202,386 205,027 224,850 
			 Barking and Dagenham n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 3,910 4,545 5,013 
			 Barnet n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 5,364 5,835 6,422 
			 Bexley n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 3,595 3,815 4,062 
			 Brent n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 7,758 8,055 8,381 
			 Bromley n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 3,908 4,671 4,992 
			 Camden n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 7,282 7,551 8,328 
			 City of Westminister n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 12,200 11,397 12,269 
			 Croydon n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 7,276 8,287 8,685 
			 Ealing n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 8,715 8,284 9,448 
			 Enfield n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 5,274 6,217 6,665 
			 Greenwich n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 7,054 7,120 7,368 
			 Hackney n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 9,469 8,966 10,081 
			 Hammersmith and Fulham n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 5,780 5,498 5,845 
			 Haringey n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 7,313 7,973 8,206 
			 Harrow n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 3,102 3,147 3,668 
			 Havering n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 3,046 3,337 3,947 
			 Hillingdon n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 4,338 4,773 5,679 
			 Hounslow n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 6,060 6,398 7,119 
			 Islington n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 7,350 7,218 7,673 
			 Kensington and Chelsea n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 4,304 4,444 4,443 
			 Kingston upon Thames n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,713 2,860 3,138 
			 Lambeth n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 12,167 13,156 15,241 
			 Lewisham n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 6,722 7,250 7,856 
			 Merton n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 3,358 3,447 3,974 
			 Newham n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 9,344 9,784 10,383 
			 Redbridge n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 4,453 4,847 5,182 
			 Richmond upon Thames n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,375 2,321 2,580 
			 Southwark n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 9,943 10,048 11,284 
			 Sutton n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 2,469 2,393 2,905 
			 Tower Hamlets n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 7,292 8,105 8,854 
			 Waltham Forest n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 5,755 6,332 7,424 
			 Wandsworth n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 6,798 6,580 7,314 
		
	
	(20) The data in this table are prior to the introduction of the National Crime Recording Standard. These figures are not directly comparable with those for later years.
	(21) Crimes recorded using the expanded offence coverage and revised counting rules which came into effect in April 1998.
	(22) Figures include Heathrow and special operations.
	n/a = not available.

Drug Treatment Places

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the extra 60,000 drug treatment places to be created in England by 2008 will be (a) residential, (b) community-based and (c) in Leeds.

Melanie Johnson: I have been asked to reply.
	We have no way of estimating how many of the additional drug treatment places will be either residential or community-based and situated in Leeds.

Forensic Science Service

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department if he will make a statement on Government discussions with trade unions concerning the future of the Forensic Science Service.

Caroline Flint: Ministers last met formally with the Forensic Science Service (FSS) trade union representatives on 20 October 2003. Since then, dialogue has continued at official level and has included a workshop with FSS trade union representatives to discuss the results of the Outline Business Case. More recently, I took the opportunity to meet with trade union and staff representatives during the course of a series of visits to FSS sites.

Indymedia

Richard Allan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department which UK law enforcement agencies were involved in the seizure of computer disks containing material published by Indymedia from the London offices of Rackspace.

Caroline Flint: holding answer 18 October 2004
	I can confirm that no UK law enforcement agencies were involved in the matter referred to in the question posed by the hon. Member.

Indymedia

Jeremy Corbyn: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department under what powers, and acting under what information, officials of his Department seized web services belonging to Indymedia; and if he will make a statement.

Caroline Flint: I can confirm that no UK law enforcement agencies were involved in the matter referred to in the question posed by my hon. Friend. In the circumstances I do not therefore believe that it is necessary for me to make a statement.

Information and Communication Specialists

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many information and communication technology specialists are in full-time employment in the Department.

Fiona Mactaggart: Within Information Management Technology Unit, which manages the provision of Information and Communication Technology services to the Home Office, on 1 September we had 73.5 full time equivalents Information and Communication Technology Specialists in full-time employment.

National Offender Management Service

Kelvin Hopkins: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what plans he has to consult stakeholders, with specific reference to trade unions, about further developments in the National Offender Management Service.

Paul Goggins: holding answer 16 September 2004
	I meet regularly with the Justice Unions Parliamentary Group and have made it clear that the Government is committed to ongoing consultation and wants the implementation of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS) to be an inclusive process. I have had a number of additional meetings with trade unions, during which NOMS has been discussed. I have also attended the annual conference of the Prison Officers Association and the National Association of Probation Officers.
	While the trade unions will continue to negotiate and seek resolution to any dispute with their employing body, the Chief Executive of NOMS has indicated that he is happy to discuss with the recognised trade unions any NOMS related issues which fall outside existing arrangements.
	Additionally, a Joint Consultative Council (JCC) has been proposed to the trade unions to enable them to meet Employers' side representatives together with senior NOMS officials to discuss matters of common interest which relate to NOMS. The JCC is not a vehicle for negotiation or collective bargaining and will not replace or supersede existing agreements or arrangements.

National Offender Management Service

Neil Gerrard: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many of the responses to the consultation document "Reducing Crime—Changing Lives" favoured a regional model for the National Offender Management Service.

Paul Goggins: Over 400 responses were received to the two written consultation exercises undertaken so far in respect of the National Offender Management Service (NOMS). Over 100 of these responses commented on the regional structure which was the subject of the second consultation exercise. The majority of responses from both exercises indicated support for the new service and the concept of end-to-end offender management. However, after consideration of the responses, which specifically refereed to the regional model, I announced to the House on 20 July 2004, Official Report, column 17WS, that I have decided that the option of moving immediately to create new regional boards is unlikely at this stage to deliver better management of offenders which is my main objective.
	More detail of the helpful responses received to this and other issues can be read in our summary of responses to the two exercises, which will be published shortly and which will be placed in the Library of both Houses. At the same time it will be available to staff and other key stakeholders through the prisons, probation and Home Office websites.

Police

David Davis: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many police officers retired from service in each year since 1997, broken down by (a) length of service and (b) police force area.

Hazel Blears: The available figures for police officers annually leaving the service are given in Home Office Statistical Bulletins.
	Figures for 2003–04 are given in Table 6 of Home Office Statistical Bulletin (No. 13/04). These figures are broken down by force area and rank, but published figures are not available broken down by length of service or by different types of leavers.
	Home Office Statistical Bulletins are available in the Library or on the internet site: http://www.homeoffice. gov.uk/rds/hosbpubs1.html.

Prison Service

Andrew Dismore: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many Prison Service personnel have taken to employment tribunal cases based on equal pay claims in each of the last five years; and what the cost to the Service of each claim has been.

Paul Goggins: The number of claims for each year are:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1999 998 
			 2000 310 
			 2001 5 
			 2002 359 
			 2003 12 
			 2004 87 
		
	
	On the information available, there have been findings against the Prison Service in eight equal pay claims. These findings are currently subject to appeal by the Prison Service and it is therefore not possible to provide a realistic estimate of the cost to the Service of each claim.

Prison Suicides

Cheryl Gillan: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department 
	(1)  how many self-inflicted deaths there have been in each prison in England and Wales in each of the last five years; and if he will make a statement;
	(2)  how many suicides there have been in each month of 2004; and what the figures were each month in the last two years.

Paul Goggins: The number of apparently self-inflicted deaths in each prison in each of the last five financial years is shown in the following table:
	
		
			 Establishment 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 Acklington 0 0 0 0 1 
			 Albany 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Altcourse 3 0 0 1 2 
			 Ashford 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Ashwell 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Aylesbury 3 2 0 1 1 
			 Bedford 1 1 0 3 1 
			 Belmarsh 0 1 0 2 3 
			 Birmingham 2 2 3 2 2 
			 Blakenhurst 2 1 0 4 4 
			 Blundeston 0 1 0 0 0 
			 Brinsford 4 2 1 0 0 
			 Bristol 1 1 1 4 1 
			 Brixton 3 4 1 1 2 
			 Brockhill 2 1 1 1 0 
			 Buckley Hall 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Bullingdon 0 1 1 3 0 
			 Bullwood Hall0 0 1 1 0 
			 Camp Hill 0 0 0 0 1 
			 Canterbury 0 0 1 0 1 
			 Cardiff 1 3 1 1 0 
			 Castington 2 0 0 2 0 
			 Channings Wood0 0 0 0 0 
			 Chelmsford 1 1 1 1 0 
			 Coldingley 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Dartmoor 0 0 1 0 1 
			 Deerbolt 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Doncaster 2 3 0 3 0 
			 Dorchester 0 2 1 2 0 
			 Dovegate 0 0 1 3 0 
			 Dover 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Down view 0 0 0 0 1 
			 Durham 3 0 0 7 4 
			 Eastwood Park0 3 1 2 0 
			 Edmunds Hill0 0 0 1 2 
			 Elmley 1 0 0 1 1 
			 Erlestoke 1 0 1 0 0 
			 Everthorpe 0 0 1 0 0 
			 Exeter 0 3 2 2 1 
			 Featherstone 0 1 0 1 0 
			 Feltham 0 1 1 0 0 
			 Forest Bank 0 0 1 1 0 
			 Frankland 0 0 0 1 0 
			 Full Sutton 0 0 1 1 0 
			 Garth 1 0 1 0 0 
			 Gartree 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Glen Parva 1 2 0 0 0 
			 Gloucester 2 2 2 1 3 
			 Grendon 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Haslar 0 0 0 1 0 
			 Haverigg 0 0 0 0 0 
			 High Down 0 0 0 1 1 
			 Highpoint 1 0 0 0 0 
			 Hindley 1 0 0 1 0 
			 Holloway 2 1 1 1 0 
			 Holme House 2 1 1 4 1 
			 Hull 0 1 1 4 2 
			 Huntercombe 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Kingston 0 1 0 1 0 
			 Kirkham 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Lancaster 0 0 0 1 0 
			 Lancaster Farms0 0 0 0 1 
			 Latchmere House0 0 0 0 0 
			 Leeds 6 2 0 5 2 
			 Leicester 4 2 3 1 2 
			 Lewes 3 2 4 3 2 
			 Lincoln 0 0 0 0 1 
			 Lindholme 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Littlehey 1 0 1 0 0 
			 Liverpool 0 3 1 2 3 
			 Long Lartin 0 0 1 0 1 
			 Low Newton 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Maidstone 0 0 1 0 0 
			 Manchester 8 0 1 1 2 
			 Moorland 0 1 0 1 0 
			 Mount, The 0 0 0 0 0 
			 New Hall 0 1 2 1 2 
			 Northallerton 0 0 2 0 0 
			 Norwich 2 1 2 2 3 
			 Nottingham 2 2 3 3 5 
			 Oxford 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Pare 1 1 1 2 0 
			 Parkhurst 1 0 0 0 1 
			 PECS 2 0 0 0 0 0 
			 PECS 3 2 0 1 0 0 
			 PECS 4 0 0 0 0 0 
			 PECS 6 1 0 0 0 0 
			 PECS 8 0 0 0 0 1 
			 Pentonville 1 2 2 1 0 
			 Portland 0 0 1 0 1 
			 Preston 2 2 2 2 4 
			 Ranby 1 0 0 0 1 
			 Reading 0 1 0 0 1 
			 Risley 1 0 0 1 0 
			 Rochester 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Send 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Shepton Mallet0 0 0 0 1 
			 Shrewsbury 0 1 0 0 2 
			 Stafford 2 1 0 0 1 
			 Standford Hill0 0 0 0 0 
			 Stocken 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Stoke Heath 0 0 1 0 0 
			 Styal 0 1 1 3 3 
			 Swaleside 0 o. 2 0 0 
			 Swansea 0 0 1 0 1 
			 Swinfen Hall 0 0 0 0 1 
			 Usk/Prescoed 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Verne, The 0 0 0 0 1 
			 Wakefield 2 0 0 1 1 
			 Wandsworth 3 4 2 2 3 
			 Wayland 0 0 1 0 0 
			 Wealstun 0 0 0 2 0 
			 Welling Borough0 0 1 0 1 
			 Wetherby 1 1 1 0 0 
			 Whatton 0 1 0 0 0 
			 Whitemoor 0 0 0 0 0 
			 Winchester 2 3 3 2 3 
			 Wolds 1 1 0 1 0 
			 Woodhill 1 0 4 2 2 
			 Wormwood Scrubs1 1 1 1 1 
			 Wymott 0 1 0 0 3 
		
	
	Note:
	The numbers of deaths at an establishment are subject to significant random swings, and it is recommended that a period of at least ten is looked at in order to establish underlying trends.
	As the hon. Member is aware from my previous answer (10 February 2004; Official Report, columns 1436–37W), reducing the rate of self-inflicted deaths in prison establishments is a key priority. The hon. Member is also aware that I made an announcement on 31 March 2004 regarding the Prison Service's developing suicide prevention strategy 27 May 2004; Official Report, column 518W. This will link existing programmes and planned investment in five broad areas of work:
	Regime, activities and care-planning for all prisoners
	Improved knowledge and outlooks of all staff at all levels
	Meeting the special needs of the most vulnerable prisoners
	Training and support for staff
	Design solutions to minimise impulsive acts.

Secure Training Centres

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how much has been paid out in compensation in respect of injuries sustained during staff training sessions in physical restraint techniques at each of the secure training centres in the last five years.

Paul Goggins: Secure Training Centres are operated by private companies under contracts managed by the Youth Justice Board. Consequently, neither the Home Office nor the Youth Justice Board has direct responsibility for dealing with compensation claims by staff members. The operating companies have told us that they have not paid any compensation in respect of injuries sustained in the course of training in physical restraint techniques over the last five years.

Secure Training Centres

Sally Keeble: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many staff training sessions in physical restraint techniques have included training in distraction techniques in each of the secure training centres in each of the last five years.

Paul Goggins: All training in physical restraint techniques used in secure training centres includes training in distraction techniques. Guidance on the use of these techniques indicates that they are to be used only as a last resort and for as short a time as possible.

Sentencing Guidelines

Claire Curtis-Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department how he intends sentencing guidelines will help to reduce prison numbers.

Paul Goggins: One of the factors the Sentencing Guidelines Council has to take into account when producing guidelines is cost-effectiveness. This will apply to all courts, in respect of all criminal offences and will lead to greater consistency of sentencing. The Government have made it clear the prison should only be used for the most serious, dangerous and persistent offenders, and that most others are better punished in the community.

Speed Cameras

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department pursuant to his answer of 13 October 2004, Official Report, column 283W, on speed cameras, where the specifications for speed camera reliability and safety are set out; and what the other sources of flash when driving at night are.

Caroline Flint: The specifications for reliability of speed cameras are set out in the Speedmeter Handbook, which is published by the Home Office Police Scientific Development Branch (PSDB). The requirements for safety, in terms of flash output, are assessed in each individual case by initially requiring the manufacturer to demonstrate that equipment submitted is safe for use at the roadside, by providing evidence, or that the flash output and filters used are similar to that which has been demonstrated as safe, as determined by independent University studies. After this is completed to PSDB's satisfaction, the police also give their view as to safety during testing at the roadside. Other sources of flash while driving at night include vehicle headlamps and the warning lights and beacons of various types of road vehicles.

UN Convention Against Corruption

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department what legislative changes would be required, with regard to forfeiture of the instrumentalities of crime, to enable the UK to comply with Article 55 of the UN Convention Against Corruption.

Caroline Flint: An amendment will be required to section 9 of the Criminal Justice (International Co-operation) Act 1990 to enable an Order in Council to be made allowing the courts to give effect to the order of a foreign court for the forfeiture of the instrumentalities of crime.

CULTURE MEDIA AND SPORT

Libraries

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport 
	(1)  how much her Department plans to spend on modernisation of community libraries in each of the next 10 years;
	(2)  how much has been spent by her Department on the modernisation of community libraries in each year since 1997.

Estelle Morris: The Department does not fund public libraries directly. Public libraries are funded through a combination of the local authority settlement, locally raised taxation, and income that they generate for themselves. Public library funding is a matter of local discretion and it is for each library authority to decide how much to spend on their libraries.
	However, we have funded the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council three year action plan which sets out a range of programmes to help libraries achieve the vision set out in "Framework for the Future". The Action Plan has been funded by a £5 million investment over the three-year period to 2005–06. The modernisation of public libraries has also been supported through a £120 million lottery funded People's Network programme which has linked all public libraries in the UK to the internet and provided training to library staff to enable them to facilitate access to the ICT for library users.
	We cannot anticipate future spend on the modernisation of public libraries, except for the £5 million investment in the Action Plan, which takes us to the end of this spending review period.

National Museums (Yorkshire)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much national museums in (a) Yorkshire and the Humber and (b) the City of York have received in Government grants in each year since 1997.

Estelle Morris: Grant in aid for the national museums which fall within (a) Yorkshire and Humber and (b) the City of York is as follows:
	
		
			  £000 
			 Museum 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 
		
		
			 National Coal Mining Museum England(23) n/a n/a n/a 1,152 1,332 
			 National Museum of Photography, Film and Television(24) 2,977 2,963 3,142 3,699 3,683 
			 National Railway Museum(24) 3,315 3,350 3,650 3,922 4,608 
			 Royal Armouries Leeds(25) 5,223 3,723 4,807 5,227 5,945 
			 Total 11,515 10,036 11,599 14,000 15,568 
		
	
	
		
			 £000 
			 Museum 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 2005–06 
		
		
			 National Coal Mining Museum England(23) 2,073 2,408 2,445 2,426 
			 National Museum of Photography, Film and Television(24) 4,180 4,347 4,252 4,515 
			 National Railway Museum(24) 5,557 6,109 6,595 6,425 
			 Royal Armouries Leeds(25) 6,157 6,286 6,887 7,113 
			 Total 17,967 19,150 20,179 20,479 
		
	
	(23) The Government started providing grant funding to the National Coal Mining Museum England through the National Museum of Science and Industry in 2000–01.
	(24) The Government provides grant-in-aid to the National Museum of Science and Industry (NMSI) of which the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television and the National Railway Museum are branch museums. Funding to its branch museums is allocated by the NMSI.
	(25) This is the total allocation for Royal Armouries, which includes its Leeds, Fort Nelson and the Tower of London branches. Royal Armouries in Leeds is the Headquarter.

National Museums (Yorkshire)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how many people visited each of the national museums in Yorkshire and the Humber in each year since 1997; and on what date charges were waived for each category of visitor at each museum.

Estelle Morris: Visitors for the national museums which fall within the Yorkshire and Humber region are in the following table.
	
		
			 Museum 1997–98 1998–99 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 National Coal Mining Museum England(26) n/a n/a n/a 65,802 60,032 107,282 121,822 
			 National Museum of Photography, Film and Television(27) 298,901 83,613 962,899 969,822 823,309 768,161 723,273 
			 National Railway Museum 420,079 434,566 467,880 485,785 587,862 767,299 740,217 
			 Royal Armouries Leeds 349,000 296,000 173,500 185,710 280,867 302,527 277,105 
			 Total 1,067,980 814,179 1,604,279 1,707,119 1,752,070 1,945,269 1,862,417 
		
	
	(26) The Government started providing grant funding to the National Coal Mining Museum England through the National Museum of Science and Industry in 2000–01, and required them to collect their visitor data from this year onwards. Figures for earlier years are not available.
	(27) The National Museum of Photography, Film and Television was partially closed in 1997–98 and 1998–99 for refurbishment.
	Free admission for adult visitors was introduced to the National Coal Mining Museum for England on 8 April 2002. Children and people over 60 already received free admission.
	Admission to the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television in Bradford has always been free.
	The National Railway Museum in York introduced free access for children on 1 April 1999. Free admission for over 60s was introduced on 1 April 2000, with universal free admission introduced on 1 December 2001.
	The Royal Armouries in Leeds introduced free admission for children and for over 60s on 1 April 2000, with universal free admission introduced on 1 December 2001.
	All the museums charge for some temporary exhibitions.

Galleries (Liverpool)

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport when she approved the change of the name of the National Galleries of Merseyside to the National Galleries of Liverpool.

Estelle Morris: National Museums Liverpool was adopted as the trading name of National Museums and Galleries on Merseyside (NMGM) in April 2003. As this change was purely for trading purposes, with no change to the statute establishing NMGM, there was no cause for the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport to approve the change of name.

Licensing Transfer

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport if she will make a statement on the transfer of licensing powers from the judiciary to local councils.

Richard Caborn: With the implementation of the Licensing Act 2003, responsibility for liquor licensing in England and Wales will transfer from the licensing justices to licensing authorities, which are almost all local authorities. The transitional period will begin on 7 February 2005 and we expect it to be completed in November 2005. At this time, licensing justices will cease to have responsibility for issuing liquor licences. But the magistrates courts will become the body responsible for considering appeals against the decisions of the licensing authority.

Lottery Grants (City of York)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport which organisations in the City of York have received lottery grants since 1997; and what the value was of each grant dispersed.

Estelle Morris: 726 organisations in York have received lottery money. A list giving their names and the value of each award received has been placed in the Libraries of both Houses.
	This information is freely available from the Department's searchable lottery award database at www.lottery.culture.gsi.gov.uk, which uses information supplied by the lottery distributors.

Renaissance in the Regions

Andrew Lansley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much Phase Two Hub funding will be allocated to the East of England within the Renaissance in the Regions programme; and what the timetable for improvements is in the South Cambridgeshire constituency.

Estelle Morris: The 2004 Spending Review White Paper sets out the intention of the Department to extend Renaissance in the Regions to all nine regional hubs. We face a number of difficult choices and competing priorities in allocating funding from the spending review but will do all we can to take the Renaissance initiative forward.
	The amount allocated to the East of England Hub for 2005–06 is £720,000. As part of the Renaissance programme, a total sum is allocated to each region and it is for each hub to determine the apportionment of funding between the hub partners.

Sports Investment

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport how much the Government has invested in sport in (a) Yorkshire and the Humber and (b) the City of York in each year since 1997.

Richard Caborn: Sport England, the non-departmental public body which has responsibility for the distribution of public funds (Lottery and Exchequer) to promote community sport, has invested the following amounts in (a) Yorkshire and the Humberside and (b) the City of York in each year since 1997. The funds shown include community grants and, since 1999, Awards for All grants.
	
		
			   £ 
			  Yorkshire and the Humberside (including City of York) City of York 
		
		
			 1997 13,129,801 65,228 
			 1998 9,942,602 0 
			 1999 11,735,364 292,390 
			 2000 36,425,303 30,703 
			 2001 30,373,527 5,813 
			 2002 21,061,104 11,854 
			 2003 15,718,980 29,478 
			 2004 to date 6,161,519 19,666 
			 Total 144,548,200 455,132

Supporters Direct

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what assistance Supporters Direct gave to the creation of York City FC Supporters Trust.

Richard Caborn: York City FC Supporters Trust (YCST) was formed with the assistance of Supporters Direct in 2002. The Trust has received 880 in reimbursed expenses, £120 for registering as a Trust and £500 (+ VAT) for legal fees associated with this registration.
	Supporters Direct provided intensive assistance at the time of the Trust's creation. This was an unprecedented level of support and subsequently they have visited York City FC Supporters Trust on five occasions since to provide advice on a range of issues. The Trust was awarded "Trust of the Season" Award in earlier this year.

Tourism (Yorkshire)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport what steps the Government has taken to enhance staff skills in the tourist industry; and how many tourism employees have been trained on courses receiving public funding in (a) York and (b) Yorkshire since 1997.

Richard Caborn: The importance of improving skills in the tourism industry was highlighted in the strategy document "Tomorrow's Tourism Today", which my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State launched in July.
	People 1st was appointed by the Government as the main Sector Skills Council covering the tourism sector in May. Sector Skills Councils are responsible for developing and leading the strategy for improving work force skills, as well as addressing issues of recruitment and retention. As one of its first tasks, People 1st is mapping regional skills shortages and existing training provision.
	The full information requested about the number of tourism employees that have been trained on courses receiving public funding could be provided only at disproportionate cost.
	Yorkshire Forward maintains attendance figures for Welcome Host courses, which equip staff with key hospitality skills, in York and across the county. These courses are partly funded by public sources.
	(a) Welcome Host attendances in Yorkshire were:
	
		
			  Number 
		
		
			 1997 (28)5,000 
			 1998 2,899 
			 1999 (28)1,700 
			 2000 (28)2,500 
			 2001 (28)1,800 
			 2002 1,473 
			 2003 938 
			 2004 (29)600 
		
	
	(28) At least.
	(29) Up to October.
	(b) Figures for York are held for 2002 and 2003 only, and were 63 and 78 respectively. These figures are included in (a) .
	Some additional tourism-related courses were provided in Yorkshire by local authorities, and by Further and Higher Education establishments.

PRIME MINISTER

Iraq

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Prime Minister if he will request that the US Administration (a) furnish him with full details of how they intend to protect mass grave sites in Iraq from possible contamination of forensic evidence and (b) institute an inquiry into their failure to protect the site at Hatra.

Tony Blair: We are in regular contact with the Iraqis, the US and others about the excavation of mass graves in Iraq. We remain committed to maintaining the highest standards for the excavation of mass graves and preserving the evidence taken from the graves, which may be used in future prosecutions.

Iraq

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to his reply of 13 October 2004, Official Report, column 277, to the right hon. and learned Member for Folkstone and Hythe (Mr. Howard), if he will list (a) the information that has turned out to be wrong and (b) the dates when such errors were brought to his attention.

Tony Blair: I have nothing further to add to the answer I gave the hon. Member on 18 October 2004, Official Report, columns 453–54W.

Iraq

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to his reply to the hon. Member for Liverpool, West Derby (Mr. Wareing), of 13 October 2004, Official Report, column 283, when he first received the report to which he refers; and if he will place a copy in the Library.

Tony Blair: This report was broadcast on television, radio and news websites on 13 October. A copy of the report to which I referred has been placed in the Libraries of the House.

Iraq

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Prime Minister pursuant to his oral answer to the right hon. and learned Member for Folkestone and Hythe (Mr. Howard) on 13 October 2004, Official Report, column 277, if he will commission an inquiry into why the intelligence information which he defined as wrong was (a) furnished to and (b) accepted by the Government.

Tony Blair: I refer my hon. Friend to my statement on the Butler Report on 14 July 2004, Official Report, columns 1431–36.

Terrorism

Martin Smyth: To ask the Prime Minister what his assessment is of the terrorist threat in the UK.

Tony Blair: As my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary made clear in his statement of 6 August 2004, which is available on the Home Office website, there is a continuing threat to the UK. This threat is under constant review, and the Government take the appropriate action.

INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT

Africa

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his Department's development expenditure on each African country was in each year from 1990–91; what the estimate is for each year to 2007–08; and if he will make a statement.

Hilary Benn: DFID's expenditure on development assistance to Africa since 1990–91 is shown in the following table—the figures in the table relate only to bilateral expenditure:
	
		DFID programme expenditure in Africa
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 1990–91 421,711,207 
			 1991–92 364,211,461 
			 1992–93 389,100,211 
			 1993–94 358,177,257 
			 1994–95 386,983,312 
			 1995–96 329,404,826 
			 1996–97 322,364,297 
			 1997–98 310,732,795 
			 1998–99 425,517,437 
			 1999–2000 471,973,047 
			 2000–01 639,592,239 
			 2001–02 576,457,779 
			 2002–03 707,679,507 
			 2003–04 705,582,347 
		
	
	The report, "Statistics on International Development (SID)", produced by DFID, contains country-by-country detail. The latest version of this is currently being printed. When the report is available, I will arrange for it to be deposited in the Libraries of the House.
	DFID bi-lateral expenditure in Africa in 2004–05 is anticipated to be £864 million rising to £1,100 million in 2005–06. The Prime Minister has committed to bi-lateral expenditure in Africa of £1 billion in 2005–06 and the recent Spending Review settlement indicated expenditure of £1.25 billion for 2007–08. Further details on planned spending are available in the DFID Departmental Report (2004), which is already available in the Libraries of the House.
	This increasing financial support to poor countries in Africa acknowledges that progress towards the internationally agreed Millennium Development Goals is too slow, and that additional finance is required. This must be spent (and carefully monitored) where it will be most effective in reducing poverty.
	Financial development assistance is critical but not enough. For this reason, DFID actively works at the global level to promote appropriate debt relief, fairer international trade and the reduction of conflict. The UK is committed to making African development central to our Presidencies of the EU and G8 in 2005.

Angola

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what discussions have taken place with the Government of Angola regarding food aid.

Hilary Benn: In Angola, food aid is discussed primarily between the Ministry of Assistance and Social Reintegration (MINARS) and the World Food Programme (WFP). Donors are kept informed of progress through regular WFP and other UN coordination meetings.
	Throughout 2004, the WFP has consistently reported that the Protracted Relief and Recovery Operation for Angola is severely under-funded. It is currently 35 per cent. resourced with confirmed contributions of US$88 million. The Government of Angola's decision in 2003 to stop imports of unmilled genetically modified organisms (GMO) has increased the cost of food commodities that WFP can bring in with their limited resources. The Government of Angola's delay in releasing their US$ 7 million contribution, promised last year, is also a factor. Another important reason is the decision by many donors to move away from emergency assistance and to focus support on reconstruction and sustainable development. In response to this situation, WFP has had to reprioritise and make substantial cuts to their operations in Angola.
	In partnership with the WFP and the United High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), DFID has funded landmine clearance programmes worth £611,325 in four provinces of Angola where the WFP delivers food aid to returning populations. DFID is also exploring the possibility of strengthening nutritional surveillance in Angola so that assistance can be better targeted to need.

Cayman Islands

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of coastal erosion on Grand Cayman.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID has neither made nor been requested to make any such assessment.

Child Protection

Mike Hancock: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent support he has given to projects in the Russian Federation aimed at improving facilities for (a) street children, (b) orphans and (c) children with disabilities; what his plans are in this area; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID has provided support to the following projects in the Russian Federation aimed at improving facilities for street children, orphans and children with disabilities:
	"Supporting Vulnerable Children in Ekaterinburg and Sverdlovsk Region". The project ran from 2000 to 2003 and addressed the problems of orphans and street children through provision of family-focused care, with a budget of £816,000.
	"Health and Social Care Partnerships": From 2000 to 2004, DFID funded 17 small projects each with a budget of around £50,000. The projects addressed issues such as: programmes for street children, homelessness, foster care, drug and alcohol awareness among vulnerable children and programmes for children with various disabilities.
	DFID is currently working in two regions of Russia through Oblast Partnership Programmes. These programmes include work on addressing the problems of street children, orphans and children with disabilities:
	Families and Children at Risk—a component of Leningrad Oblast (region) partnership programme being implemented during 2004–07 with a budget of approximately £1,000,000.
	Targeted Social Assistance—a component of Nizhny Novgorod partnership programme being implemented during 2003–06 with a budget of approximately £1,800,000.

Dalit People

John Battle: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what monitoring will take place to measure Dalit children's access to free schooling provided using his Department's recently announced grant to India.

Hilary Benn: DFID supports the Government of India's scheme to provide Universal Elementary Education (known as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan); this includes special focus on socially disadvantaged groups, including Dalits. Formal monitoring of the programme will be undertaken twice yearly as a joint exercise involving the Government of India, DFID, the World Bank and the European Commission.
	All data pertaining to enrolment, retention, completion and performance are available at district level and are disaggregated by social class (Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe) as well as by gender. The monitoring process also measures progress on special initiatives that target Dalit children, including distribution of free textbooks.

Hurricane Ivan

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what expenditure is being made available to help with the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan to (a) Grenada, (b) Jamaica and (c) Cuba; and if he will break down the assistance including (i) immediate humanitarian help and (ii) grant aid given to start re-building and restoring basic service provision.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: To date, DFID has provided £1.6 million of humanitarian assistance to the Caribbean region following the impact of Hurricane Ivan on affected countries. Of this approximately £441,000 and 422,000 have gone to support relief needs in Grenada and Jamaica respectively. In addition to this assistance, HMS Richmond and RFA Wave Ruler were deployed to both islands to offer and provide immediate humanitarian support. We are considering further support through United Nation agencies, the International Federation of the Red Cross and non-governmental organisations.
	The European Community has announced it is mobilising £4.65 million in emergency relief and post emergency rehabilitation to help Grenada to cope in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan. This includes commitments of £2.01 million from the European Commission's Humanitarian Aid Office towards the country's emergency needs and to assist St. Vincent and the Grenadines. The UK share of this European Community assistance is about £700,000.
	The impact of Hurricane Ivan on Cuba was minimised because of the path it took and the pre-impact evacuation efforts of the Cuban authorities. DFID has contributed £0.5 million to the regional appeal of the International Federation of the Red Cross. The appeal mainly focuses on the provision of emergency food, shelter needs, water and sanitation and various non-food items and includes six months support to 3,000 affected families in Cuba.
	DFID is re-directing existing support to Grenada within its regional programme for the Caribbean, to meet post-hurricane needs. Some of this support will be available to help establish the National Agency for Reconstruction and Development, for education and for helping small businesses to recover.
	DFID is currently reviewing its programme with Jamaican and international partners to ascertain whether any re-prioritisation of resources is required to assist the country with its reconstruction efforts.

Hurricane Ivan

Robert Marshall-Andrews: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what steps the Government propose to assist in the relief of (a) Grenada and (b) the Cayman Islands following the effects of Hurricane Ivan.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: Ever since the development of the first hurricane system to affect the region (Hurricane Frances) the Ministry of Defence, the Department for International Development (DFID) and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office were working closely together to ensure that HMS Richmond and Royal Fleet Auxiliary Wave Ruler were available, equipped and in position to provide immediate assistance.
	With regard to Grenada, the UK Government provided an immediate contribution of £83,400 to the Pan American Health Organisation's appeal to support the mobilisation costs of emergency personnel with urgently needed medical supplies and the provision of disease surveillance and control measures. DFID also sent an aircraft to deliver 140 rolls of plastic sheeting for 1,400 families and 11,000 water containers the value of this support is around £56,000. DFID has also contributed £500,000 to the International Federation of the Red Cross Regional Appeal, for the provision of emergency food, shelter needs, water and sanitation and various non-food items. £300,000 of this support will go to assist effected families in Grenada. In addition, DFID is providing £200,000 to Christian Aid and £200,000 to Oxfam for their continuing relief and rehabilitation work in Grenada.
	The United Nations launched a Flash Appeal for Grenada to respond over the next six months to urgent humanitarian need and to help establish the foundation for the rehabilitation of social services and economic recovery. DFID is consulting with United Nation agencies on the priority areas for providing support through the appeal.
	The European Community has announced it is mobilising £4.65 million in emergency relief and post emergency rehabilitation to help Grenada focus on the provision of emergency shelter, food, water and other key supplies for 5,000 homeless families. It includes funds to be mobilized under the 9th European Development Fund, that are expected to be utilised primarily for school rehabilitation. The United Kingdom's share of this European Community assistance is about £700,000. The European Commission has also pledged £830,000 to Jamaica through its Humanitarian Aid Office, focusing on reducing the number of persons in temporary shelters and providing alternative accommodation for those currently housed in schools. The United Kingdom's share of this support is about £150,000.
	DFID also responded to an urgent request from the Government of the Cayman Islands by providing urgent relief items, including plastic sheeting and have since sent flights containing potable water, hygiene materials and other requested items. The cost of this direct assistance is about £200,000. Our contribution to the International Federation of the Red Cross regional appeal includes support to 1,000 affected families in Cayman Islands for six months.
	The British Government are providing £100,000 towards the costs associated with the deployment of a contingent form the Bermuda Regiment who are currently helping with the continuing clean up on the Islands. DFID has also provided advisory support including a Law Enforcement Adviser, a Disaster Preparedness Adviser and reinforced the Governor's office.

International Finance Facility

Tom Brake: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development pursuant to the answer of 6 July 2004, Official Report, column 626W, from the Economic Secretary on the International Finance Facility (IFF), if he will list the 37 countries which have made statements of endorsement for the IFF.

Stephen Timms: I have been asked to reply.
	The following 37 countries have made statements of endorsement for the IFF, either at the spring meetings of the World Bank and IMF or at the Paris Ministerial Forum on Financing for Development, both of which were held in April 2004:
	Algeria
	Angola
	Argentina
	Benin
	Botswana
	Brazil
	China
	Colombia
	Congo Brazzaville
	Cote D'lvoire
	DRC
	Ethiopia
	Egypt
	Gabon
	Gambia
	Ghana
	Guatemala
	Kenya
	India
	Iran
	Lebanon
	Madagascar
	Mali
	Mexico
	Mozambique
	Nigeria
	Pakistan
	Peru
	Philippines
	Senegal
	South Africa
	Sri Lanka
	Syria
	Trinidad & Tobago
	Rwanda
	Uganda
	Venezuela
	In addition, France has been a firm supporter of the IFF among the G7 and all Nordic countries supported the IFF's potential role in providing additional finance for development.

Iraq

Llew Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assistance is being provided to Iraq (a) to clean up areas of Iraq contaminated by used weapons and equipment deployed by coalition forces, (b) to clean up urban areas contaminated by depleted uranium shells used by coalition forces and (c) for training Iraqi scientists and engineers to decontaminate land despoiled by military activities; and what communications his Department has had with Iraq's environment Minister on environmental clean up in Iraq.

Hilary Benn: The Government are supporting the Iraqi Interim Government in the clearance of unexploded ordnance (UXO) as part of post-conflict reconstruction in Iraq. De-mining organisations part-funded by DFID (the UN Mine Action Service and the Mines Advisory Group) are working with local organisations and the UK military to plot the locations of UXO and carry out disposals. DFID is also contributing to mine risk education programmes through UNICEF, and DFID funding is available for de-mining activities through the United Nations trust fund for Iraq.
	UK armed forces personnel have been carrying out ordnance disposal activities and removing surface-lying depleted uranium (DU) fragments from battlefield areas. They have also been exchanging information with humanitarian and commercial organisations involved in ordnance disposal work, and warning Iraqis through signs and leaflets that they should not go near or touch battlefield debris. The Ministry of Defence has offered advice to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) Post Conflict Assessment Unit on carrying out risk assessments on DU within urban areas and on long-term monitoring of DU in the environment.
	DFID is providing financial support to UNEP for post-conflict environmental assessment work in Iraq, which includes technical assistance and capacity building for the Iraqi Environment Ministry. UNEP is also receiving significant funding from other donors through the UN trust fund for Iraq. UNEP has worked with Iraqi institutions to develop a contaminated sites database and a plan for the remediation of environmental "hotspots". The sites include industrial facilities, landfills, and sewage treatment plants as well as battlefield areas. UNEP has provided training for approximately 300 Iraqi officials and scientists in areas including contaminated sites assessment, environmental inspections, laboratory analysis and environmental impact assessment. Two training programmes on depleted uranium are scheduled for the third and final quarters of this year.

Iraq

Glenda Jackson: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how many re-construction programmes there are in Iraq funded by (a) the UK and (b) the EU, broken down by type.

Hilary Benn: DFID has committed over £331 million for humanitarian and reconstruction assistance in Iraq since the conflict in 2003. This includes:
	£84.8 million to UN agencies in response to 2003 emergency appeals;
	£32 million to the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement;
	£78.8 million for reconstruction and capacity-building projects in southern Iraq;
	£19 million for advisory support to central Government, the justice sector, independent media, civil society and political participation;
	£28 million for secondments and consultants for the Coalition Provisional Authority (up to June 2004) and related security costs;
	£70 million to the World Bank and UN International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq—IRFFI—trust funds;
	£11.7 million through the IMF and the International Finance Corporation for economic governance support and small business development; and
	£7.4 million through NGOs.
	A full list of DFID-funded projects can be found at: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/news/files/dfidiraqprojectlistsep04 .pdf
	In 2003 and 2004, the European Community (EC) has provided €100 million in humanitarian assistance through UN agencies and NGOs, plus €202 million towards reconstruction as set out in the following table. The UK currently provides 19 per cent. of EC funding for Iraq.
	
		Summary of European Community assistance to Iraq, 2003–04
		
			  Sector Committed (€ million) 
		
		
			 2003   
			 UNDP Thematic Trust Fund for Crisis Prevention and Recovery Education, health, water and sanitation, income generating activities 29 
			  Human rights, civil society, support to electoral process 3 
			  Mine action 2 
			 United Nations Trust Fund Political process, transitional justice 5 
			 World Bank Trust Fund Capacity building 3 
			 Total 2003  42 
			
			 2004   
			 United Nations Trust Fund Education, health, water and sanitation, agriculture and environment, poverty reduction and human development, governance and civil society, and electoral support 80 
			 World Bank Trust Fund Education, community based regeneration projects and capacity building 80 
			 Total 2004  160 
			
			 Grand total  202 
		
	
	Most other EU member states are also providing assistance to Iraq individually. The following pledges were made for 2004–07 at the Madrid Conference in October 2003:
	
		
			  US$ million 
		
		
			 Austria 5.48 
			 Belgium 5.89 
			 Cyprus 0.12 
			 Czech Republic 14.66 
			 Denmark 26.95 
			 Estonia 0.08 
			 Finland 5.89 
			 Greece 3.53 
			 Hungary 1.24 
			 Ireland 3.53 
			 Italy 235.62 
			 Luxembourg 2.36 
			 Malta 0.27 
			 Netherlands 9.42 
			 Slovenia 0.42 
			 Spain 220 
			 Sweden 33

Iraq

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what recent discussions he has had with the European Commission regarding aid to Iraq.

Hilary Benn: DFID officials are in frequent contact with European Commission (EC) colleagues to discuss aid to Iraq. The EC has spent over €300 million on support to Iraq: €100 million for humanitarian activities in 2003, and a further €200 million for reconstruction through the United Nations and World Bank trust funds for Iraq. DFID is also working alongside other Government Departments to facilitate dialogue between European officials and Iraqi Ministers in order to help identify areas for future EU engagement with Iraq.

ITC Consultants

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much the Department spent on outside information technology and communication specialist consultants and engineers in the 2003–04 financial year.

Hilary Benn: DFID spent a total of £5,398,815 on outside information technology and communication specialist consultants and engineers in the 2003–04 financial years. This figure comprises:
	£5,178,718 spent on consultants and engineers engaged to assist with the development and support of internal systems, including the Catalyst business change programme.
	£220,097 spent on specialist consultants engaged to assist with the Information and Communication for Development programme who were funded directly from DFID running cost budgets. This figure does not include consultants engaged indirectly through DFID-funded international development activities, which were managed by third parties.

Ministerial Expenditure

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development how much the Department spent on (a) maintenance, (b) renovation, (c) council tax and (d) running costs of residential properties used by Ministers and officials in each year since 1997.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID does not own any residential properties in the UK and therefore has not spent any such money on maintenance, renovation, council tax or running costs.
	Information on expenditure on maintenance and running costs of residential properties overseas is not centrally available and could not be obtained without incurring disproportionate cost.

Theft and Fraud

Mark Prisk: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what his estimate is of the cost of theft and fraud to (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1997.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: The estimated cost of fraud and theft to DFID each year since 1997, including the number of cases, is illustrated in the following table. While many of the cases are relatively small in financial terms (the total loss due to fraud in recent years is 0.006 per cent. of DFID's total spending), DFID remains committed to minimising such losses. This year DFID has reviewed and updated its policy and response to fraud and theft, with advice from anti-fraud specialists.
	
		
			  Fraud Thefts(30) 
			  £ Number of cases £ Number of cases 
		
		
			 1996–97 0 — 8,273 3 
			 1997–98 0 — 48,365 4 
			 1998–99 96,925 9 0 — 
			 1999–2000 79,813 5 11,220 4 
			 2000–01 4,800 3 13,439 8 
			 2001–02 70,787 6 12,778 6 
			 2002–03 102,984 17 2,684 3 
			 2003–04 (31)232,917 17 2,192 2 
		
	
	(30) Does not include items with a zero net book value.
	(31) This is the current estimate since investigations are ongoing for some cases in 2003–04.

Uzbekistan

Greg Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for International Development what assessment he has made of progress in meeting his Department's goals of achieving economic and political reform through constructive engagement with the Republic of Uzbekistan.

Mr. Gareth Thomas: DFID continues to have dialogue with the Government of Uzbekistan on economic and political reform, in concert with the international financial institutions and other donors. In particular, the Department works with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development in support of the economic and political benchmarks set out in EBRD's country strategy for Uzbekistan. An EBRD review of the benchmarks earlier this year concluded that, overall, limited progress had been made. With EBRD and others, DFID continues to monitor developments in Uzbekistan in relation to the strategy benchmarks.

FOREIGN AND COMMONWEALTH AFFAIRS

Brazil

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place with the Government of Brazil on the effects of inflation rates in the country on (a) economic recovery and (b) political stability.

Bill Rammell: The UK-Brazil Economic Talks took place on 10 September 2004 in London. They were the latest in a regular series of talks, the last of which was hosted by Brazil in May 2003. The UK delegation included senior officials from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, HM Treasury, Bank of England, the Department for Trade and Industry, the Department for International Development and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The talks included discussion of economic developments in Brazil (embracing prospects for inflation and growth) and the process of economic reform. A range of international economic, financial and trade issues were also covered.

British Council

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much Government funding was provided to the British Council in each year since 1997.

Chris Mullin: Since 1997 the Foreign and Commonwealth has provided the British Council with grant in aid at the levels set out in the following table. The difference between the allocation up until 1998–99 and that of 1999–2000 and subsequent years is explained by a machinery of Government transfer from the Department for International Development (DfID), when the Foreign and Commonwealth Office took over DFID's grant in aid responsibility to the British Council. The British Council also receives grants amounting to £4.4 million (2003–04 figures) from the Department for Education and Skills, Education Northern Ireland, Scottish Executive Education Department and the National Assembly Training and Education Department of Wales.
	The council runs development contracts on behalf of a number of Government Departments, notably DFID. and the EU. It also generates income through charging for education services (English language training and examinations). Its total turnover in 2003–04 was £455 million.
	FCO grant in aid to the British Council:
	
		
			  £000 
			  Grant in aid British Council 
		
		
			 1997–98 97,884 
			 1998–99 97,448 
			 1999–2000 133,248 
			 2000–01 137,720 
			 2001–02 144,985 
			 2002–03 151,455 
			 2003–04 165,474 
			 2004–05 173,600

British Overseas Territories (Public Holidays)

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs which days of the year in (a) the Turks and Caicos Islands, (b) Anguilla, (c) Bermuda, (d) the British Indian Ocean Territory, (e) the Caymen Islands, (f) the Falkland Islands, (g) Guernsey, (h) Gibraltar, (i) the Isle of Man, (j) Montserrat, (k) Pitcairn Island, (l) British Antarctic Territory, (m) St Helena, Tristan da Cunha and Ascension Island, (n) the Akrotiri and Dhekelia Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus, (o) Jersey and (p) South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands are designated (i) public holidays, (ii) national days and (iii) ceremonial days; and what representation from the UK there is at ceremonies held to mark each such day.

Bill Rammell: It is not usual for dates in the calendars of the Overseas Territories or Crown Dependencies to be specifically designated as "ceremonial days". However, occasions such as HM the Queen's Birthday and Remembrance Sunday are usually marked ceremonially, and the Governor (or equivalent) would normally attend.
	While, strictly speaking, it is inaccurate to speak of a "National Day", the term is sometimes used to denote an annual celebration of the particular identity of an Overseas Territory or Crown Dependency.
	The details for the Overseas Territories mentioned in the question are as follows:
	Akrotiri and Dhekelia Sovereign Base Areas in Cyprus
	The UK is represented at some Greek Cypriot religious holidays and other celebrations by the administrator or other appropriate Sovereign base area administration representative. Turkish Cypriot holidays are observed, but not celebrated in the Sovereign base areas.
	Anguilla
	The following are public holidays in Anguilla in 2004: new year's day (1 January); Good Friday (9 April); Easter Monday (12 April); Labour day (3 May); Whit Monday (31 May); Anguilla day (1 June); HM the Queen's Birthday (14 June); August Monday (2 August); August Thursday (5 August); Constitution day (6 August); Separation day (17 December); Christmas day (27 December, in lieu); Boxing day (28 December, in lieu).
	The Governor attends the Anguilla day parade (and other celebrations, if invited). HM the Queen's Birthday celebrations (held on Monday after the HM The Queen's official birthday in June) comprise: official, uniformed organised parade in the main public park, at which the Governor takes the salute and inspects the Royal Anguilla Police Force, and a reception at Government House, hosted by the Governor.
	Bermuda
	The following are public holidays in Bermuda: new year's day; Good Friday; Bermuda day (24 May); HM the Queen's Birthday (June); Emancipation day (end of July); Somers day (end of July); Labor day (first Monday in September); Remembrance day (11 November); Christmas day; Boxing day.
	The Governor of Bermuda participates in HM the Queen's birthday parade as well as the Remembrance day ceremony.
	British Antarctic Territory
	The Territory does not have a settled population.
	British Indian Ocean Territory
	The Territory does not have a settled population.
	Cayman Islands
	The following are public holidays in the Cayman Islands: new year's day; national heroes day (fourth Monday in January); Ash Wednesday; Good Friday; Easter Monday; Discovery day (third Monday in May); HM the Queen's Birthday (celebrated locally on the Monday following the Saturday designated in the UK); Constitution day (first Monday in July); Remembrance day (the Monday after Remembrance Sunday); Elections day (once every four years); Christmas day; Boxing day.
	Falkland Islands
	The following are public holidays in the Falkland Islands: new years day; Good Friday; Christmas day; Boxing day; HM the Queen's Birthday (21 April), when a reception is held at Government House); Liberation day (14 June), when a procession is held in Stanley by the military, including a fly-past (weather permitting) and a reception at Government House; spring holiday (first Monday in October), also called Peat Cutting day; Battle day (8 December); Government holiday between Christmas and new year (30 and 31 December this year).
	Gibraltar
	The following are bank and public holidays in Gibraltar in 2005: new year's day (substitute for 1 January: Monday 3 January); Commonwealth day (Monday 14 March); Good Friday; Easter Monday; May day (substitute for 1 May: Monday 2 May); spring bank holiday (Monday 30 May): HM the Queen's Birthday (Monday 13 June); summer bank holiday (Monday 29 August); Gibraltar national day (substitute for 10 September: Monday 12 September); Christmas day (substitute for 25 December: Tuesday 27 December); Boxing day (Monday 26 December).
	Montserrat
	The following are public holidays in the Montserrat: new year's day; St. Patrick's day; Good Friday; Easter Monday; Labour day; Whit Monday; Queen's Birthday; Emancipation day (First Monday in August); Christmas day; Boxing day; Festival day (31 December).
	Pitcairn Islands
	The following are public holidays on Pitcairn: Christmas day; new year's day; Bounty day (23 January). The Governor's Representative attends the celebrations on Bounty day.
	St. Helena and her Dependencies of Ascension Island and Tristan da Cunha
	The following are public holidays in St. Helena: new year's day; Good Friday: Easter Monday; St. Helena day (21 May); HM the Queen's Official Birthday; Whitsun;
	August bank holiday; Christmas day; Boxing day
	The following are public holidays in Ascension Island: new year's day; Good Friday; Easter Monday; Ascension day (May); HM the Queen's Official Birthday; Whitsun; August bank holiday; Christmas day; Boxing day.
	The following are public holidays in Tristan da Cunha: new year's day; Epiphany; Good Friday; Easter Monday; HM the Queen's Official Birthday; Ratting day (local holiday—mid April); Ascension day (May); Whit Monday (May); Anniversary day (14 August); Christmas day; Boxing day.
	South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands
	The Territory does not have a settled population.
	Possession day (17 January) celebrates the day in 1775 when Captain Cook took possession of South Georgia for the Crown. This is marked by a reception by the Commissioner of the Territory (who is also Governor of the Falkland Islands) at Government House in Stanley.
	Turks and Caicos Islands
	The following are public holidays in the Turks and Caicos Islands: new year's day; commonwealth day (8 March); Good Friday: Easter Monday; national heroes day (31 May); HM the Queen's Official Birthday; Emancipation day (1 August); national youth day (24 September); columbus day (11 October); international human rights day (24 October); Christmas day; Boxing day.
	My noble Friend the Secretary of State for Constitutional Affairs and Lord Chancellor is the Privy Counsellor with special responsibility for the Crown Dependencies. The following information has been provided by the Department for Constitutional Affairs:
	Guernsey
	The following are public holidays in Guernsey: new year's day; Good Friday; Easter Monday; first Monday in May; 9 May (Liberation day); last Monday in May; last Monday in August; Christmas day; Boxing day.
	His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor is Her Majesty the Queen's personal representative on the Island. As such, he attends many functions to mark public holidays and Liberation day.
	Her Majesty's Government are generally not represented on such occasions. However, on the occasion of the swearing in of a new Lieutenant-Governor or Bailiff it is usual for a senior official from the Department for Constitutional Affairs to attend the ceremonies.
	Isle of Man
	The following are public holidays in 2005 on the Isle of Man: new year's day (3 January); Good Friday (25 March); Easter Monday (28 March); early May bank holiday (2 May); late May bank holiday (30 May); T.T. bank holiday (10 June); Tynwald day (5 July); summer bank holiday (29 August); Boxing day (26 December); Christmas day (27 December, in lieu).
	Tynwald day is the Isle of Man's National Day. Members of the Royal Family may preside on Tynwald Hill at St. Johns during the Tynwald, however the Governor usually presides as the Queen's Representative. The armed forces are also usually represented at the Tynwald Ceremony.
	Jersey
	Jersey adopts the same public holidays as England. In addition, 9 May is a public holiday to mark the Island's Liberation. A formal ceremony also takes place to mark Remembrance Sunday. On both days (Liberation day and Remembrance day) His Excellency the Lieutenant-Governor, HM the Queen's personal representative in Jersey, participates.

Burma

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations were made by the Government at the fifth Asia-Europe summit in Hanoi on the Government of Burma's record of human rights abuses.

Douglas Alexander: I refer the hon. Member to the reply I gave to my hon. Friend the Member for Wirral, South (Mr. Chapman) on 18 October 2004, Official Report, columns 465–66W.

Cambodia

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place with the Government of Cambodia regarding King Sihanouk's abdication.

Douglas Alexander: We have not held any discussions with the Government of Cambodia regarding King Sihanouk's abdication.

Chad

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place with the Government of Chad on the influx of Sudanese refugees fleeing Janjaweed militia.

Chris Mullin: Officials from the Department for International Development and the British embassy in Cameroon, which covers Chad, have held discussions with the Government of Chad about the influx of Sudanese refugees fleeing violence in Darfur. We have also provided £6.75 million to UN agencies in Chad, and we are currently agreeing commitments for over £2 million to NGOs working there, to assist the refugees and Chadian host communities.

China

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place on the lifting of the arms embargo on China with the Governments of (a) France, (b) the USA, (c) the EU and (d) China; and what assessment has been made of the likely impact on the security situation in the South China seas.

Bill Rammell: The review of the EU arms embargo was announced by the European Council on 12 December 2003. The issue was last discussed by EU Foreign Ministers at the 11 October 2004 General Affairs and External Relations Council (GAERC), and will revert to a future GAERC. In recent contacts with my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary, US and Chinese Ministers have expressed an interest in the review of the embargo.
	However, the review and any decisions arising from it are to be undertaken by the EU only. The EU will take all relevant factors into account in the review. The Government does not wish to pre-empt the conclusion of the review.
	The Government continues to implement the arms embargo as set out by the then Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, the late Derek Fatchett, in his reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Reading, East (Jane Griffiths) on 3 June 1998, Official Report, columns 246–47.

China

Greg Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs to how many further cases of concern since the publication of the FCO Human Rights Report 2003 raised by the Government with the Government of the People's Republic of China the Chinese Government have responded.

Bill Rammell: Since the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Human Rights Report was published in 2003 the Chinese Government have responded to 68 cases. Of these 29 are new cases raised for the first time.

Consul-General's Residence (New York)

Greg Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on what dates the contracts were exchanged for (a) the sale of the Consul-General's former residence in New York and (b) the purchase of the new residence in New York.

Bill Rammell: Contracts were exchanged for the sale of the Consul-General's former residence in New York on 9 December 2003 and the purchase of the Consul-General's new residence in New York on 1 November 2001.

Correspondence

Michael Spicer: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he will reply to the letter of 14 July from the hon. Member for West Worcestershire to the Minister of State.

Bill Rammell: holding answer 18 October 2004
	My noble Friend the Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Symons of Vernham Dean) would like to apologise to the hon. Member for the delay in replying to his letter of 14 July. She replied today.

Cyprus

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make representations to the Turkish government officially to recognise the state of the Republic of Cyprus; and if he will make a statement.

Denis MacShane: My right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary and I have a regular dialogue with the Turkish Government on a range of issues relating to Cyprus. Turkish recognition of the Republic of Cyprus is one of them.

Cyprus

Tom Cox: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the issues that involve the whole island of Cyprus on which he expects co-operation from the Turkish government; and if he will make a statement.

Denis MacShane: The principal issue involving the whole of Cyprus on which the co-operation of the Turkish government is required is efforts to find a comprehensive settlement to the Cyprus Problem.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place with the Governments of (a) Rwanda and (b) Uganda on the political situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo; and what steps have been taken by the Government to foster security and stability in the Democratic Republic of Congo and its neighbouring countries.

Chris Mullin: I have visited the Great Lakes region twice this year. On both occasions I discussed security and stability with the Governments of Rwanda, Uganda and DRC. My right hon. Friends the Foreign Secretary and the International Development Secretary also regularly raise this with regional Governments.
	The UK supported UN Security Council Resolution 1565 (2004), which authorised the deployment of a further 5,900 military personnel to the UN Mission in DRC (MONUC). We believe that this will help to improve MONUC's effectiveness, particularly in Eastern DRC. We also support the forthcoming International Conference on the Great Lakes Region.

Eritrea

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place with the Government of Eritrea following the expulsion of BBC correspondent, Jonah Fisher.

Chris Mullin: Our Ambassador in Asmara has asked the authorities for information on this case and plans to meet the Government as soon as possible to make clear our concern.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many times during the Greek presidency of the EU the Committee on financial and technical co-operation between the Community and Mediterranean non-member countries met; when and where these meetings took place; which UK Government expert was present at each meeting; what (a) technical and (b) financial issues were raised by the UK Government expert at each meeting; what recommendations the Committee produced during that period; what actions were (i) proposed and (ii) taken by the EU as a result of the Committee's recommendations; and if he will make a statement.

Denis MacShane: We are not aware that any such meetings took place during the Greek presidency.

EU Legislation

Wayne David: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what proportion of UK legislation emanated from the European Union (a) between 1992 and 1997 and (b) since 1997.

Denis MacShane: Information relating to the total proportion of legislation agreed by the UK and other EU member states in the Council of Ministers, which has effect or is implemented in the UK, is not recorded centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost. Departments record individually the primary and secondary legislation introduced to implement EU requirements. Only a small proportion of Foreign and Commonwealth Office legislation is introduced to implement EU requirements.

EU-Israel Association Agreement

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to the answer of 11 October 2004, Official Report, column 31W, on the EU-Israel Association Agreement, what the reasons are for his decision.

Denis MacShane: The Government believe that, as a friend of Israel and the Palestinians, we can best exert influence and encourage both sides to take the steps needed for progress through close engagement. However, both sides have so far failed to meet their Roadmap obligations. We do not believe that sanctions against one of the Parties, such as suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, would help bring Israel and the Palestinians nearer to a just and lasting negotiated settlement. We do not therefore intend to call for the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement in response to the International Court of Justice ruling of 6 July.
	We recognise Israeli security concerns and Israel's right to defend itself, within the law, against terrorists. We consider the building of the barrier on occupied land to be illegal, and continue to call on the Israeli Government to re-route it. On 20 July we, along with the rest of our EU partners, voted in favour of UN General Assembly resolution ES-10/15 on the legal consequences of building the barrier on occupied land.

European Constitution Referendum

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what plans he has made for the eventuality of a no vote in the proposed referendum on the European Constitution.

Denis MacShane: Her Majesty's Government are confident the British people will approve the new Treaty following a debate in which the facts are made clear and the myths and misconceptions about it are laid to rest. The EU Constitutional Treaty cannot come into force unless it is approved by all member states. If the UK, or any other member state, were unable to ratify the Treaty, member states would need to meet to discuss a way forward.

European Constitution Referendum

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs when he expects to announce the timetable for a referendum on the European Constitution.

Denis MacShane: No decision has yet been taken on the detailed timetable for the referendum on the EU Constitutional Treaty. As the hon. Member is aware, it will take place only after Parliament has had the opportunity to examine the Treaty in detail.

Former Soviet Republics

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place with the governments of (a) Turkmenistan, (b) Tajikistan and (c) Uzbekistan on the smuggling of opium across its borders with Afghanistan; and what steps the Government have taken to assist these countries in securing their borders with Afghanistan.

Bill Rammell: The UK maintains an ongoing dialogue with Turkmenistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan concerning the flow of opiates from Afghanistan.
	In addition to bilateral contacts, the UK has supported the Afghan Government in securing agreement to a Good Neighbourly Relations Declaration (GNRD) on counter narcotics through which Afghanistan and her six neighbours have agreed to co-operate and take joint action to stop the flow of opiates from Afghanistan. The UK is also a leading figure in the "Paris Pact" which is a mechanism for co-ordinating activity by all countries affected by drug trafficking from Afghanistan. An HMCE Drug Liaison Officer is based in Tajikistan, with a regional remit, to facilitate improved co-operation on counter narcotics issues.
	The UK has an ongoing programme of bilateral and regional assistance for counter narcotics capacity-building with Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan. Examples of UK assistance include equipment and facilities to secure their borders with Afghanistan, training of law enforcement officials, assistance to develop regional intelligence sharing and co-operation to stop the flow of pre-cursor chemicals into Afghanistan.

Green Ministers

John Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how many meetings of the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers were attended by the Department's Green Minister in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04.

Bill Rammell: I am a member of ENV(G). It has been established practice under successive Governments not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees. This practice is now formalised by Exemption 2 of Part 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Guinea-Bissau

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place with the Interim Government in Guinea-Bissau on the security situation.

Chris Mullin: We have been working through our partners in the EU and the UN to help secure stability in Guinea-Bissau. The EU normalised relations with the Government of Guinea-Bissau in July in recognition of progress made towards constitutional order. Following the army mutiny of 6 October, the UN took part in mediation talks with the Government of Guinea-Bissau and mutinous soldiers. A Memorandum of Understanding was agreed and Guinea-Bissau is now calm. The EU has subsequently commissioned a report to assess the security situation in Guinea-Bissau.

Information and Communication Specialists

Brian Jenkins: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs how much the Department spent on outside Information Technology and Communication specialist consultants and engineers in the 2003–04 financial year.

Bill Rammell: Expenditure by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on specialist Information Technology and Communication consultants during the 2003–04 Financial Year breaks down as follows:
	Administration costs: £11,501,689
	Capitalised costs: £11,609,668 (including £9,096,502 in respect of the Department's PRISM management information system project)
	These figures do not take account of consultants engaged by individual Posts overseas and paid for from Posts' delegated budgets. Details of such consultancies are not held centrally and could be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Iraq

Adam Price: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his answer of 1 September 2004, Official Report, column 683W, on Iraq, with which British officials Abdel Basit Turki raised aspects of coalition detention practices; and what specific action was taken as a result.

Denis MacShane: The former Iraqi Human Rights Minister, Abdul Basit Turki, raised some general concerns about coalition operations in Iraq in his statement to the UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR) on 16 March 2004. When our Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva met Mr. Turki on 23 March 2004, he did not raise any specific concerns regarding human rights abuses in detention facilities.
	Separately, Mr. Turki had told British officials in Baghdad in September 2003 that he was concerned about detention management and conditions. He raised these concerns with the coalition provisional authority and with Ambassador Bremer in December 2003, but we are not aware of the details of these discussions.
	On his return to Iraq following the CHR, British officials suggested that Mr. Turki raise his concerns in more detail with US Ambassador Jones (Ambassador Bremer's deputy). A British official was present at this meeting. Mr. Turki's concerns centred on the coalition's failure to control looting after the initial military operation, the negative impact of the US operation in Falluja and allegations of abuse of detainees by US forces. In reply, US officials confirmed that an investigation was underway into allegations of abuse at Abu Ghraib. They asked Mr. Turki to bring any information on abuses to their attention. Mr. Turki was told that the US would not hesitate in bringing those responsible to justice, if allegations of abuse were substantiated.

Iraq

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs pursuant to his oral answer of 28 January 2004, Official Report, column 304, if he will publish the intelligence which has not yet been made public pending the completion of the Iraq Survey Group's work.

Jack Straw: My right hon. Friend the Prime Minister's answer on 28 January referred to the material that was being assembled by the Iraq Survey Group. The ISG Report has now been published. It acknowledged the support given to it by the UK Government. These matters have also been examined during the course of the Butler Review and other inquiries. All relevant information has been placed in the public domain insofar as that could be done without prejudicing national security.

Kenneth Bigley

Paul Marsden: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on whether the Government was involved in Mr. Kenneth Bigley's attempted escape in Iraq.

Denis MacShane: We are aware of reports of an attempted escape by Ken Bigley before his brutal murder. We cannot corroborate these reports but can confirm that the Government was not involved. However, as my right hon. Friend the Foreign Secretary has said on several occasions, the Government did consider all possible means to secure the safe release of Mr. Bigley.

Niger

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the implications of violence in the Niger Delta for the security of British nationals working for British oil companies there.

Chris Mullin: We have made clear our concern at the security situation in the Niger Delta, and the implications for British citizens in the region, to the Nigerian Federal and State authorities. I authorised a strengthening of Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) travel advice on 30 September in response to an increase in fighting in Rivers State, to warn against all travel by boat and road to riverine areas of Rivers and Bayelsa States. In addition, the FCO Travel Advice, available on the FCO website: www.fco.gov.uk, warns against non-essential travel to the riverine areas in Delta State.
	A ceasefire agreement was signed on 1 October between the Federal Government and the armed gangs involved in the violence in Rivers State. We welcome this and hope it will provide a basis for a sustainable and peaceful solution.
	We continue to monitor events closely and are in close touch with British companies operating in the Niger Delta.

Niger

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place with the Government of Niger on Islamic militants.

Chris Mullin: We have not had discussions with the Government of Niger on Islamic militants. The EU, however, has a regular dialogue with the Government of Niger on a range of issues, including internal developments.

Solomon Islands/Fiji

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the security situation in (a) the Solomon Islands and (b) Fiji.

Bill Rammell: Following the unrest caused by ethnic tension between 1998 and 2003, the Solomon Islands is now a relatively stable and peaceful country. There is still the potential for minor disturbances but most of the weapons used during the unrest have been given up.
	Fiji has also been a predominately peaceful and stable country since the elections in 2001.

South Georgia/South Sandwich Islands

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions have taken place with the Governor of the Falkland Islands regarding the administration of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

Bill Rammell: The Governor of the Falkland Islands acts concurrently as Commissioner for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands, administering the Territory with his team from Government House, Stanley. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office works closely with Government House on matters relating to the administration of the Territory, and discussions therefore take place on a regular, and ongoing, basis.

Sudan

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what discussions have taken place with the Government of Sudan regarding the possibility of regional autonomy for the south of the country.

Chris Mullin: The UK is involved, through its observer status, at the Intergovernmental Authority for Development-sponsored peace talks between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement, which began in 2002. The two parties have agreed that the people of South Sudan have the right to control and govern affairs in their region, and to participate equitably in the National Government. They have also agreed a detailed framework for the operation of the Government of southern Sudan, and for state Governments across Sudan. Final outstanding issues are currently being addressed in Karen, Kenya, with a view to concluding a Comprehensive Peace Agreement in the coming months. The Government stands ready to support the two parties in implementing this agreement.

Sudan

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the UN resolution on possible oil sanctions against Sudan; and whether he expects a timetable to be set for the Sudanese Government to comply with demands outlined in the resolution.

Chris Mullin: UN Resolution 1564, which we co-sponsored, introduces the specific threat of oil sanctions against the Government of Sudan if they fail to meet their obligations to resolve the situation in Darfur. The Security Council will determine what action should be taken, on the basis of the UN Secretary General's monthly reports.

Surinam/Guyana

Mark Simmonds: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the border dispute between Surinam and Guyana.

Bill Rammell: The Government have remained neutral. We have offered no legal or political support to Guyana. But we have offered to make our public records available to both countries. We have encouraged both sides to seek an amicable solution to the border dispute.

Turkey

Greg Pope: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will support the according to Turkey of EU applicant status at the next EU summit; and if he will make a statement.

Denis MacShane: The UK Government fully supports Turkey's EU candidate status, as agreed at the Helsinki European Council in 1999. Following the recent Commission recommendation that Turkey has fulfilled the Copenhagen political criteria, the UK Government believes that the European Council in December should agree to open accession negotiations without delay.

Turkey

David Drew: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Turkish government about the local authority in Seljuk taking planning action against the Ephesus Protestant Church there.

Denis MacShane: The British Government regularly raises individual cases relating to freedom of religion in dialogue with the Turkish government, most recently in our annual Human Rights Dialogue on 15 July. We support the European Commission's recommendation of 6 October that called on the Turkish government to adopt legislation to address concerns about property rights of non-Muslim religious communities. I have asked officials at the British Embassy in Ankara to look into the case of the Ephesus Protestant Church in Seljuk.

TRADE AND INDUSTRY

Broadband

Janet Anderson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what the level of broadband access is in the Rossendale Valley area covered by Rossendale borough council.

Mike O'Brien: We are unable to collect connectivity data at this level of detail.
	However, when BT announced the removal of distance restrictions from 6 September 2004, they said that recent "trial data indicates that where the exchange is upgraded for broadband, an average of 99.8 per cent. of lines should be able to get a 512kb/sec ADSL broadband service". This will apply to most exchanges by the end of 2005.

Business Start-ups

Stephen O'Brien: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what assessment she has made of the number of days required to start a business in the UK in each year since 1994.

Nigel Griffiths: I regularly review the length of time it takes to start up a business here and in the EU.
	In 1994 it took seven days to incorporate a company. In 2001 it took three days. Today the majority of registrations are completed, electronically within a day.
	Figures for each year can be obtained only at disproportionate cost.

Business Volunteers

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many volunteers (a) in total and (b) from the Buckingham constituency have signed up to the Business Volunteer Mentoring Association in each year since 2002; and how much funding her Department has provided to the Association since 2002.

Nigel Griffiths: Since 2002 the Business Volunteer Mentoring scheme (BVM) has recruited a total of over 1,200 volunteers of whom approximately 1,000 are currently active, some six or seven mentors have been recruited yearly from the Buckingham constituency of whom seven are currently active. The DTI through the Small Business Service has provided over £4 million since 2002 for the scheme.

Business Volunteers

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many businesses (a) from the Buckingham constituency and (b) in total have received inventory support from the Business Volunteer Mentoring Association since 2002.

Nigel Griffiths: The number of businesses assisted in the Buckingham constituency since 2002 totals approximately 1,000.
	In total over 16,000 businesses have received support since the Business Volunteer Mentoring scheme started in 2002.

Chemicals Industry

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what assessment she has made of the implications for the UK chemicals industry of the EU Commission's Draft Regulation on Chemicals Policy; and if she will make a statement;
	(2)  what assessment she has made of the effect the EU Commission's Draft Regulation on Chemicals Policy will have on the competitiveness of the UK chemicals industry.

Jacqui Smith: The Government commissioned a partial regulatory impact assessment earlier this year which estimated the direct costs to UK industry of the proposed Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals (REACH) regulation to be £515 million over the 11 year implementation period. That impact assessment was included in consultations with stakeholders during March-June this year, which invited views on all aspects of REACH, including the impact on competitiveness. Further work is under way to assess the indirect costs to downstream users of chemicals.
	Maintaining the competitiveness of the UK chemicals industry is a key Government objective in negotiating REACH. We are therefore continuing to press for further improvements to REACH to achieve its objective of enhancing protection of human health and the environment while also maintaining the competitiveness of the chemicals industry and downstream users.

Chemicals Industry

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what representations she has received about the EU Commission's Draft Regulation on Chemicals Policy.

Jacqui Smith: The Government have proactively engaged in discussions with all interested stakeholders on the proposed REACH regulation (Registration, Evaluation and Authorisation of Chemicals). This has included seminars, conferences, workshops and meetings between Ministers, officials and various stakeholder groups. A public consultation on the proposed REACH regulation took place in March-June this year, which attracted a large number of responses from manufacturers of chemicals, downstream users, trade associations, retailers, non-government organisations, academia and others. Defra will be publishing a summary of the responses later this year.
	Discussions with interested stakeholders will continue throughout the period of negotiations on REACH to ensure that the Government are kept well informed about their views, and we remain open to considering proposals for amendments to improve the regulation.

Civil Partnerships

Christopher Chope: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will place in the Library the response by the Deputy Minister for Women and Equality to the report by the Joint Committee on Human Rights referred to on 12 October 2004, Official Report, column 179.

Patricia Hewitt: holding answer 18 October 2004
	I have now placed a copy of the letter in the Libraries of the House.

Civil Servants (Yorkshire)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many full-time equivalent jobs (a) her Department and (b) its executive agencies had in (i) Yorkshire and the Humber and (ii) the City of York in (A) 1997 and (B) the latest year for which figures are available.

Jacqui Smith: The full-time equivalent staff in post in the DTI and its executive agencies is set out in the table.
	The earliest figures readily available from the DTI HR database are as at 1 June 1998; retrieving 1997 data would involve disproportionate cost.
	
		
			  1 June 1998 15 October 2004 
			 Organisation Yorkshire and Humberside City of York Yorkshire and Humberside City of York 
		
		
			 DTI(32) 74.54 0 2.00 0 
			 Employment Tribunals Service 64.55 0 68.55 0 
			 The Insolvency Service 92.68 0 117.34 0 
			 Small Business Service (SBS) 0 0 110.48 0 
			 Radiocommunications Agency (RA)(33) 11.59 0 0 0 
			 Total 243.36 0 298.37 0 
		
	
	(32) Change in DTI figures reflect the establishment of the SBS on 1 April 2000.
	(33) The change in RA figures reflect the establishment of Ofcom on 29 December 2003.

Consultants

John Maples: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry if she will list the contracts awarded by her Department to consultants in each of the last five years, stating in each case (a) the name of the consulting company, (b) the value of the contract and (c) the purpose for which the contract was awarded; and if she will make a statement.

Nigel Griffiths: This information is not held centrally and can be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Earnings (Yorkshire)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what average gross (a) male and (b) female average earnings were (i) in May 1997 and (ii) at the most recent date available in (A) City of York local authority and (B) Yorkshire and the Humber.

Jacqui Smith: Data from the New Earnings Survey are annualised, with no data available for individual months; 2003 is the latest data available. 1997 and 2003 figures for median gross weekly earnings (£) are as follows:
	
		
			  Median gross weekly earnings (£) 
		
		
			 City of York  
			 1997  
			 Male  
			 All 351.7 
			 Full-time 373.1 
			 Part-time (34)— 
			 Female  
			 All 171.5 
			 Full-time 240.0 
			 Part-time 93.2 
			   
			 2003  
			 Male  
			 All 447.6 
			 Full-time 475.1 
			 Part-time 117.0 
			 Female  
			 All 230.8 
			 Full-time 329.0 
			 Part-time 126.7 
			   
			 Yorkshire and the Humber  
			 1997  
			 Male  
			 All 310.0 
			 Full-time 322.6 
			 Part-time 85.1 
			 Female  
			 All 168.4 
			 Full-time 233.0 
			 Part-time 89.9 
			   
			 2003  
			 Male  
			 All 385.6 
			 Full-time 400.9 
			 Part-time 117.0 
			 Female  
			 All 226.9 
			 Full-time 313.3 
			 Part-time 123.1 
		
	
	(34) Data unreliable so not given.
	Source:
	New Earning Survey, ONS—based on average gross weekly earnings for adult employees whose pay for the survey period was not effected by absence.

Electricity Generation

Bill Wiggin: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what structures exists within the Elan Valley that could be adapted for hydroelectric generation and storage.

Mike O'Brien: If by structures the hon. Member means dams, then all those within Elan Valley are now equipped for hydroelectric generation. There are plans to replace some of the older machinery, which will also improve the generation capability.
	Within Elan Valley itself, 3.12 MW can be generated at present. Two new dams could be included in the valley but there are no plans to build these at the moment.

Employment (York)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many (a) full-time and (b) part-time workers there were in the City of York (i) in 1997 and (ii) at the latest date for which figures are available.

Jacqui Smith: The information is as follows:
	(a) (i) Full-time workers in York in 1997—57,000 (73.7 per cent. of all in employment aged 16+).
	(ii) Full-time workers in York in the latest data available (four quarter average September 2003 to August 2004)—60,000 (67.1 per cent. of all in employment aged 16+).
	(b)(i) Part-time workers in York in 1997—20,000 (26.3 per cent. of all in employment aged 16+).
	(ii) Part-time workers in York in the latest data available (four quarter average September 2003 to August 2004)—30,000 (32.9 per cent. of all in employment aged 16+).
	Source:
	Labour Force Survey—taken from Nomis Website at http://www.nomisweb.co.uk

Entrepreneurship

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures are being taken to encourage better partnership between the public, private and voluntary sectors in relation to promoting entrepreneurship.

Nigel Griffiths: DTI provides support for a number of initiatives that encourage people and organisations from the public, private and voluntary sectors to work together. In particular, Enterprise Week, running from 15 to 21 November, is part of a national campaign to inspire and mobilise young people to be enterprising and catalyse a culture of enterprise in the UK. Public, private and voluntary sector organisations are all providing or contributing to Enterprise Week events, and all are being encouraged to remain involved after Enterprise Week.
	In addition, many DTI sponsored schemes make use of private sector resources. For example, the Business Volunteer mentor (BVM) Scheme run by the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies provides mentoring support for new businesses from a team of mentors from the private sector. Young Enterprise—an organisation which gives young people personal experience of business and which receives financial support from DTI, has sponsorship and supporters from the public and private sectors.
	The Small Business Service is developing a strategy to encourage more engagement between social enterprise and private sector companies. It has commissioned research on the outcomes of existing partnerships and aims to develop new practical guidance on commercial collaboration.

Entrepreneurship

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action her Department has taken to promote entrepreneurship in the community.

Nigel Griffiths: In January 2004, the Small Business Service published a cross department Government action plan for small business, setting out actions to support small businesses and promote enterprise awareness and entrepreneurial activity across all sectors of the community. The action plan includes specific actions to build an enterprise culture, encourage a dynamic start up market, build capacity for small business growth, and to encourage more enterprise in disadvantaged communities and under represented groups.
	Specific actions to promote entrepreneurship across all sectors of the community include: continued funding for the Phoenix Fund, which promotes enterprise in disadvantaged communities, focusing on innovative business support and providing access to finance; a strategy for promoting women's enterprise; and a number of measures to encourage entrepreneurship within ethnic minority communities.

Entrepreneurship

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action her Department has taken to highlight and showcase successful new business.

Nigel Griffiths: The DTI supports a number of initiatives and awards that showcase successful new businesses and entrepreneurs. For example it provides support for the Business Volunteer mentor (BVM) Scheme run by the National Federation of Enterprise Agencies (NFEA), which provides mentoring support for new businesses, and showcases successful business people on the NFEA and BVM websites.
	DTI also supports Enterprise Insight, which is co-ordinating the "Make Your Mark" Enterprise Week. This will include events featuring young entrepreneurs including the final of the Enterprising Young Brits competition.
	The Department also supports a number of awards for entrepreneurs such as Shell LiveWIRE, Everywoman Awards, the Black Enterprise Awards, the Pearl Awards, and the Asian Jewel Awards.

EU Committees

Angus Robertson: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many times during the Greek Presidency of the EU the Co-ordinating Group for the community regime for the control of exports of dual-use goods met; when and where these meetings took place; what UK Government expert was present; and if she will make a statement.

Nigel Griffiths: The Coordinating Group, met twice in Brussels during the Greek Presidency, on 4 February 2003 and 31 March 2003. A DTI representative was present at both meetings.

Foreign Investment (Yorkshire)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much foreign investment was received in (a) Yorkshire and the Humber and (b) the City of York in each year since 1997; and what estimate she has made of the number of jobs generated from it.

Jacqui Smith: The information requested is as follows:
	
		
			  New jobs Investment 
		
		
			 1997   
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 987 Not recorded 
			 York 310 Not recorded 
			
			 1998   
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 3,590 Not recorded 
			 York 75 Not recorded 
			
			 1999   
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 3,926 Not recorded 
			 York 100 Not recorded 
			
			 2000   
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 1,889 Not recorded 
			 York 335 Not recorded 
			
			 2001   
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 2,210 Not recorded 
			 York 110 Not recorded 
			
			 2002   
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 712 Not recorded 
			 York 4 Not recorded 
			
			 2003   
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 638 £10 million 
			 York 50 Not recorded 
			
			 2004 (To date)   
			 Yorkshire and the Humber 918 £60.58 million recorded 
			 York 6 Not recorded 
		
	
	Note:
	Investment values were only captured from April 2004 and are incomplete. Job figures exclude safeguarded jobs.

Fuel Poverty

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many people in the UK have suffered fuel poverty in each of the last 20 years; and what assessment the Department has made of the impact of the recent increase in energy prices on people living in fuel poverty.

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what estimate she has made of the impact of recent price increases in domestic gas and electricity upon the incidence of fuel poverty.

Mike O'Brien: The data are not available for all the years requested.
	In 1996, 4 million households were estimated as "vulnerable fuel poor". In 2002 this had fallen to an estimated 1.75 million households.
	Work is under way on estimating the possible impact of rising fuel prices on the number of households in fuel poverty.

Green Ministers

John Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many meetings of the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers were attended by the Department's Green Minister in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04.

Mike O'Brien: It has been established practice under successive Governments not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees. Exemption 2 Internal Advice and Discussion of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Inward Investment

David Rendel: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much inward investment into the UK there was from European Union member states in real terms in each year since 2001 (a) in total and (b) broken down by English region.

Douglas Alexander: holding answer 18 October 2004
	The total amounts of stock for inward investment into the UK from the European Union member states for 2001 and 2002 are given as follows. Figures for 2003 are not published by Office of National Statistics Monitor Annual number 4 until December 2004.
	
		
			   £ billion 
			  2001 2002 
		
		
			 Austria 0.4 1.0 
			 Belgium and Luxembourg (Blue) 4.5 6.7 
			 Belgium 2.2 1.8 
			 Luxembourg 2.3 4.9 
			 Denmark 4.0 3.4 
			 Finland 1.1 1.6 
			 France 35.2 37.2 
			 Germany 29.7 37.9 
			 Greece 0.1 0.1 
			 Irish Republic 4.2 4.5 
			 Italy 6.5 5.8 
			 Netherlands 60.9 60.6 
			 Portugal 0.1 0.1 
			 Spain 0.6 2.3 
			 Sweden 3.6 3.7 
			 Total 151.0 164.5 
		
	
	Unfortunately, stock figures are not available broken down by English region However, I can provide you with the figures of inward investment projects by English regions as announced by UKTI annually.
	
		
			  Number of projects 
			  2001–2002 2002–2003 2003–04 
		
		
			 East 54 42 56 
			 East Midlands 17 32 30 
			 London 176 155 170 
			 North East 56 62 61 
			 North West 33 59 63 
			 South East 126 118 134 
			 South West 30 33 39 
			 West Midlands 98 52 61 
			 Yorkshire and Humberside 40 35 25 
			 Total 630 588 639 
		
	
	The numbers are based on information provided by companies at the time of the announcement of the decision to invest in the UK. The figures take no account of subsequent developments. There is no requirement to notify UKTI and so the figures include only those projects where UKTI's Inward Investment Group and its regional partners were involved or which have come to their notice.

Mortgage Provision (Health Checks)

Nick Palmer: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action she will take to discourage discriminatory health check requirements by mortgage providers on same-sex couples.

Jacqui Smith: The Government are aware of concerns about current imbalances in provisions for the different groups protected by discrimination legislation. Some of these imbalances affect lesbians, gay men and bisexual people adversely. One of the first tasks of the proposed Commission for Equality and Human Rights will be to review the legislative framework to ensure that it meets the needs of a modern Britain.
	The Government are committed to improving equality and human rights for all in our society. The Civil Partnership Bill that allows same-sex couples to gain formal legal recognition of their relationship is one such important step forward.

National Business Debtline

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many calls the National Business Debtline has received (a) in total and (b) from businesses based in Buckinghamshire in each year since April 2002; and what the cost of the debtline was in each year.

Nigel Griffiths: The National Business Debtline received 6,170 telephone inquiries in the period from April 2002 to March 2003 and 8,340 calls in the period from April 2003 to March 2004.
	77 calls were received from businesses in Buckinghamshire from 1 January 2003 to 30 September 2004. Information on calls received before this date is not available.
	The Debtline has received a total of £387,500 in funding over the financial years April 2002 to March 2003 and April 2003 to March 2004. A breakdown of funding is set out in the following table.
	
		
			£ 
			 Financial Year Banks DTI/SBS Total 
		
		
			 April 2002 to March 2003 102,000 80,000 182,000 
			 April 2003 to March 2004 125,500 80,000 205,500

PIN Pads (Post Offices)

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry 
	(1)  what costs have been associated with (a) replacing and (b) adapting the original PIN pads installed in post offices;
	(2)  what the initial cost was of installing PIN pads in post offices.

Gerry Sutcliffe: This is a commercial matter for Post Office Ltd.

R and D Clusters

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures her Department has taken to develop research and development clusters into world class industries.

Mike O'Brien: This Government have demonstrated their commitment to translating the fruits of the UK's R&D into world-class business successes by:
	significantly increasing investment in science and knowledge transfer. This funding will improve the sustainability of the science research effort; increase the volume of research universities are able to undertake and stimulate the commercialisation of science research;
	encouraging links between the science base and industry;
	introducing R&D tax credits to encourage businesses to invest in innovation;
	introducing a National Technology Strategy to focus support on innovation. The strategy will be underpinned by £150 million—including £90 million allocated for nanotechnology; and
	launching two new business support products, Collaborative R&D and Knowledge Transfer Networks, to assist businesses both within and between industry sectors.
	The Regional Development Agencies, in England, and the devolved Administrations play a pivotal role in helping clusters to flourish. To assist them, DTI published, alongside the Innovation Report, a practitioners guide to cluster development in April 2004. This guide brings together the critical success factors to help clusters to flourish.

Regional Government

David Wilshire: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how regional development agencies will be accountable to elected regional assemblies in England.

Jacqui Smith: holding answer 18 October 2004
	In regions with an elected regional assembly, the regional development agency (RDA) would become directly accountable to the relevant elected regional assembly. In practical terms this would mean that:
	An RDA would become a functional body of the assembly, rather than being sponsored by central Government. The agency would retain its day-to-day operational independence and its board would continue to be directly responsible for ensuring that it fulfils its statutory role and delivers on its corporate plan.
	The RDA would continue to be responsible for developing the regional economic strategy which would then be published by the assembly subject to any modifications its directs the RDA to make.
	The elected assembly would appoint the chair and board members of its RDA.
	The assembly would set its RDA's budget and provide funding for its RDA.
	It would be up to each assembly to decide the precise arrangements it puts in place for its working relationship with its RDA.
	This was set out in the Government's White Paper "Your Region, Your Choice" (Cm 5511).

SMEs

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures are being taken to improve the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises.

Nigel Griffiths: The Government have put in place a wide range of measures to improve the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises. These include:
	High quality advice and support available to start up and growth businesses from Business Links, and the business support organizations in the devolved Administrations. Since 2001–02 Business Link market penetration has increased from 18 per cent. to 33 per cent., and customer satisfaction from 81 per cent. to 89 per cent.
	A tailored range of business support products available from the DTI aimed at improving competitiveness by encouraging innovation, enterprise, best practice and investment. They include the Grant for R&D, Support to implement best practice, and the Small Firms Loan Guarantee.
	The launch of the www.businesslink.gov.uk web portal in May. The site joins up national e-government services for the UK's small and medium-sized businesses, providing easy access to government regulatory and business support information, and to skills and training support. Usage of the site has exceeded targets since its launch. It is currently handling more than 400,000 user sessions each month.
	UK Trade and Investment advises businesses, particularly small and medium-sized businesses about the best ways of internationalizing their activities to enable them to compete in overseas markets. The Passport programme, for example, available through Business Link provides developmental support and training for novice exporters.
	Further measures to support encourage enterprise, support small businesses and to improve their competitiveness are set out in the Government Action Plan for Small Business published on 8 January 2004, and in the various economic development strategies of the devolved Administrations.
	Small businesses are thriving under this Government. Since the start of 2002, the number of SMEs has increased by 200,000 to four million; around 500 new businesses are being created every day; the number of small businesses in the UK is showing the fastest rate of growth since 1995; and for three successive years now, small firms productivity growth has exceeded all firms growth.

SMEs

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what measures her Department has taken to increase the capacity of small and medium sized enterprises to tender for Government contracts.

Nigel Griffiths: The Small Business Service, an executive agency of DTI, together with the Office of Government Commerce launched a national web portal, <http://www.supplyinggovemment.gov.uk> last year. The site provides advice and guidance for SME suppliers. A major enhancement, expected by summer 2005, will provide the ability to browse for contract opportunities and for suppliers to lodge standard information needed for pre-qualification. SBS and OGC have also run two training pilots for SMEs in the West Midlands and Haringey aimed at improving their success in tendering for contracts.
	In addition, we abolished the requirement to provide three years accounts when tendering for Government contracts.

Social Economy

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what action her Department has taken to promote the social economy.

Nigel Griffiths: The term social economy is generally accepted as including co-operatives, social enterprises, and the voluntary and community sector. DTI leads within Government on social enterprise (HM Treasury leads on co-operatives and the Home Office leads on the voluntary and community sector). In July 2002, the Government published "Social Enterprise: a strategy for success", a three year strategy to promote and sustain social enterprise activity. "A progress report on Social enterprise: a strategy for success" was published in October 2003. Bulletins setting out more recent progress are available on the DTI website at www.dti.gov.uk/socialenterprise/news.
	Achievements to date include: introducing legislation on a new legal form, the Community Interest Company, for social enterprises; publishing a public procurement toolkit for social enterprises; supporting the development of specialist training and business support; publication of a report by the Bank of England on the financing of social enterprises, and working with partners to address its recommendations; supporting the establishment of the Social Enterprise Coalition; undertaking research into the size of the sector; and raising awareness of social enterprise, including through sponsoring the national social enterprise awards.

University Spin-out Companies

John Bercow: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how many companies were spun out by universities in (a) Buckinghamshire and (b) England in each year since August 2000.

Nigel Griffiths: UK Government have provided significant support to promote commercialisation of ideas from our excellent research base. This is bearing fruit in start-up companies, licensing agreements and other important interactions between the science base and business. The latest data for spin-out companies are:
	2000–01: 374
	2001–02: 428
	Information on funding in Buckinghamshire is not available, as these data are not collected on a county basis.

Yorkshire Forward

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry how much investment Yorkshire Forward has received; and how many jobs it has created in (a) Yorkshire and the Humber and (b) the City of York.

Jacqui Smith: I have been advised by Yorkshire Forward that in 2003–04 Yorkshire Forward has:
	created and safeguarded 16,500 jobs;
	encouraged the start up of 730 businesses;
	attracted £275.8 million private sector finance;
	supported 47,000 learning opportunities.

CONSTITUTIONAL AFFAIRS

Antisocial Behaviour Orders

David Lepper: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs 
	(1)  what training is provided for magistrates in dealing with breaches of antisocial behaviour orders;
	(2)  what guidelines are issued to magistrates in relation to dealing with breaches of antisocial behaviour orders.

Christopher Leslie: Statutory responsibility for the training of magistrates currently rests with the 42 independent Magistrates' Courts' Committees (MCCs). The Judicial Studies Board (JSB) has provided training materials to MCCs on ASBOs, which encourage through case studies, discussion of the issues arising in sentencing on the breach of orders, including those in the Youth court.
	In February 2004, the JSB advised MCCs that it expected every magistrate to receive a minimum of two hours face to face training on ASBOs by the end of this financial year. It is anticipated that any such training will cover issues on breaches of orders.
	The Home Office issued detailed guidance on ASBOs to magistrates courts in November 2002. Preliminary Home Office guidance on the new Anti-social Behaviour Act 2003 was issued to all magistrates courts in January 2004.
	The current Magistrates Court Sentencing Guidelines include a guideline in respect of breach of antisocial behaviour orders (ASBO). All magistrates have been provided with these guidelines in the Adult Court Bench Book issued by The Judicial Studies Board (JSB) in 2003. The Criminal Justice Act 2003 has now established the Sentencing Guidelines Council, and it will fall to them to determine in due course, whether new sentencing guidelines should be provided in respect of breaches of ASBOs.
	In court lay magistrates sit with their Justices' Clerk or a legal adviser. The Justices' Clerk has a statutory duty to provide advice to the magistrates on questions of law, practice and procedure. This will include advice on applying any case law and relevant Court of Appeal judgments when making decisions on sentence.

Channel Islands

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what discussions the Lord Chancellor has had with the Channel Islands in his official capacity in the last 12 months.

David Lammy: In the last twelve months the Lord Chancellor has held discussions with representatives of Jersey and Guernsey, jointly, on 3 March.
	The Lord Chancellor made an official visit to Jersey on the 9 and 10 May. During his visit he held discussions with Jersey's Crown Officers including His Excellency the Lieutenant Governor, the Bailiff and the Attorney General. He also held discussions with the President of the Policy and Resources Committee, the Chief Executive of Policy and Resources and the Director-General of the Jersey Financial Services Commission. Among the topics discussed were relations between Jersey and the UK, progress in changes to Jersey's system of government, international treaties and agreements, maintaining the high standard of financial services regulation, international communications and other shared economic and policy objectives.

District Judges' Salaries

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the total expenditure was on District Judges' salaries and expenses in each of the last 10 years.

Christopher Leslie: From the information available to my Department, the total expenditure on District Judges' salaries in the last six years is:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 1998–99 46,626,845.00 
			 1999–2000 53,747,583.00 
			 2000–01 60,841,891.00 
			 2001–02 66,009,217.00 
			 2002–03 72,311,129.00 
			 2003–04 88,286,003.00 
		
	
	Note:
	Actual expenditure prior to 1998–99 is not available.
	My Department possess only a single figure on judicial expenses which includes all the judiciary and therefore it has not been possible to provide information separately on District Judges' expenses.

European Convention on Human Rights

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many human rights cases have been pursued in UK courts since the European Convention on Human Rights was incorporated into UK law.

David Lammy: The information requested is not collected centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Isle of Man

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what discussions the Lord Chancellor has had with the Isle of Man in his official capacity in the last 12 months.

David Lammy: The Lord Chancellor has held discussions with representatives of the Isle of Man on three occasions in the last twelve months. Discussions on 4 December, 10 December and 3 March covered a range of business and policy topics including trade, international treaties and agreements, fiscal regulation and other shared economic and policy objectives. The Lord Chancellor and Chief Minister also spoke at the British Irish Summit in Cardiff on 28 November 2003.

Lay Magistrates

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many sitting lay magistrates there were in (a) 1997 and (b) 2003.

Christopher Leslie: The number of sitting lay magistrates in 1997 and 2003 in England and Wales were:
	
		
			 Year end(35) (36)England and Wales 
		
		
			 31 December 1997 30,361 
			 31 March 2003 28,344 
		
	
	(35) Figures include the Duchy of Lancaster.
	(36) Note: record-keeping changed to financial years in 2000–01.

Lord Chancellor

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what Government policy is on the position of Lord Chancellor; and what the timetable is for proposals for change.

Christopher Leslie: The Constitutional Reform Bill is being considered in the Other Place and will then be brought to this House. We will proceed with implementation once Royal Assent has been received.

Lord Chancellor (Consultations)

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs 
	(1)  what consultations the Secretary of State has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department in each of the past 12 months;
	(2)  what discussions he has had with the Secretary of State for the Home Department with regard to effective sentencing procedures for youth courts.

Christopher Leslie: I have meetings and discussions with a wide range of organisations and individuals. As with previous Administrations it is not the Government's practice to provide details of all such meetings under Exemption 2 of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information (internal advice and discussion) on the grounds that it would harm the frankness and candour of internal discussion.

Magistrates (Expenses)

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what the total amount paid in expenses to magistrates was in each of the last 10 years.

Christopher Leslie: From the information available to my Department, the total amount paid in expenses to magistrates in the last seven years is:
	
		
			  £ 
		
		
			 1996–97 11,764,279 
			 1997–98 12,412,420 
			 1998–99 12,451,135 
			 1999–2000 12,459,786 
			 2000–01 13,052,640 
			 2001–02 14,125,733 
			 2002–03 13,874,885 
			 2003–04 (37)15,104,885 
			 Total 119,364,465 
		
	
	(37) Estimated outturn.
	Note:
	Information for years prior to 1996–97 is not available.

Magistrates Court Closures

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many appeals against closures of magistrates courts were lodged in each of the last five years; how many of those were successful; and what percentage this was of appeals in each year.

Christopher Leslie: I refer the hon. Member to the answer I gave on 31 March 2004, Official Report, column 1419W. Since I gave that answer, I have dismissed one further appeal against the closure of Stourbridge Magistrates Court.
	The provision of magistrates courthouses is a matter for the 42 Magistrates Courts Committees (MCCs) and as such my Department does not collect, centrally, information on all determinations from each of the MCCs. Therefore, the exact percentage of appeals in each year cannot be accurately calculated.

Ministerial Expenses

Mark Prisk: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how much the Department spent on (a) maintenance, (b) renovation, (c) council tax and (d) running costs of residential properties used by Ministers and officials in each year since 1997.

David Lammy: Between 1997 and 2004, my Department has had no residential properties used by Ministers or officials.

Mobile Phones

Mark Prisk: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many mobile phones were used by (a) Ministers and special advisers and (b) officials in his Department in each year since 1997; how many were (i) lost and (ii) stolen; and what their cost was.

David Lammy: My Department has provided the following number of mobile phones to (a) Ministers and special advisers and (b) officials in the Department since 1997:
	
		
			  (a) Ministers and special advisers  (b) Officials 
		
		
			 1997–98 n/a n/a 
			 1998–99 n/a n/a 
			 1999–2000 n/a n/a 
			 2000–01 n/a n/a 
			 2001–02 9 139 
			 2002–03 9 154 
			 2003–04 10 173 
			 2004 to September 2005 10 192 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Figures from 1997 to March 2001 cannot be obtained without incurring disproportionate costs.
	2. During the period 2001 to 2004, four phones have been reported lost and one phone reported stolen. The only cost to the Department has been for the replacement handsets and this equates to £250.00 in total.

Ministerial Visits

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs how many official visits he has made to magistrates courts in the last 12 months.

Christopher Leslie: I visited eight magistrates courts in the last 12 months. They were Leicester, Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Salford, Birmingham, Camberwell and Horseferry Road.

Queen's Counsel

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what plans he has for the retention of the Queen's Counsel distinction for barristers.

Christopher Leslie: My written Parliamentary Statement of 26 May 2004 sets out our policy for the reform of the rank of Queen's Counsel. The legal professional bodies, with the help of my Department, are at present designing the interim scheme.

Theft and Fraud

Mark Prisk: To ask the Parliamentary Secretary, Department for Constitutional Affairs what his estimate is of the cost of theft and fraud to (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1997.

David Lammy: It is not possible to distinguish between the Department and its agencies. Available figures for the cost of theft and fraud since 1997 are:
	
		
			   £ 
			  Department and agencies NDPBs 
		
		
			 1997–98 21,721.52 — 
			 1998–99 79,923.02 — 
			 1999–2000 21,558.40 — 
			 2000–01 8,338.16 — 
			 2001–02 48,801.47 13,137 
			 2002–03 158,388.00 31,911 
			 2003–04 14,048.25 — 
		
	
	Figures for the current financial year are not yet available. These figures do not include those for the Legal Service Commission who will be answering separately.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER

Disabled Facilities Grant

David Taylor: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what progress has been made towards abolishing the system of means testing applicants for the disabled facilities grant in England.

Nick Raynsford: In response to a Parliamentary Question in another place on 5 January 2004, my right hon. Friend Lord Rooker announced a review of the disabled facilities grant programme.
	This review is now under way. Its terms of reference are to review the operation and outcomes of the disabled facilities grant programme and to make proposals to improve its efficiency and fairness. This will include a review of the DFG means test.
	The review group will report to Ministers in May 2005.

Single Regeneration Budget

Andrew Turner: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what arrangements are in place for (a) meeting and (b) monitoring the running costs of capital projects paid for by the single regeneration budget since 1997.

Phil Hope: During the lifetime of all single regeneration budget schemes, funding costs, including the running costs relating to delivery of specific capital projects, are met and monitored by the relevant SRB partnership. Partnerships are encouraged to secure the regeneration benefits achieved through SRB support by building into their forward (or exit) strategy the means to sustain the scheme's objectives after funding has completed.

Telecommunications Masts

Vincent Cable: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will issue fresh planning guidance to local authorities in respect of telecommunications masts to be sited close to schools.

Keith Hill: Current planning guidance on telecommunications is set out in the revised Planning Policy Guidance Note 8: Telecommunications. The Government have no plans to revise PPG8 at the current time.

Council Tax

Nicholas Winterton: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the future of council tax.

Nick Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has accepted the Balance of Funding Review's conclusion that council tax should be retained but reformed. We now look to Sir Michael Lyons' Independent Inquiry to make recommendations on any changes that are necessary and how to implement them.

Council Tax

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  what the rates of council tax were for each band in each London borough in each year since 1990;
	(2)  by how much the level of council tax charged by each London borough changed in each of the last three years.

Nick Raynsford: Figures for council tax rates in each Band in each London borough since its introduction on 1 April 1993, and for changes in the level of council tax charged by each London borough in each of the last three financial years, are available in the Library of the House.

Housing Development Trusts

Alan Whitehead: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what plans he has to support housing development trusts.

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has no specific plans to support housing development trusts.
	However, as announced by my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister on 26 September, the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is developing an initiative to help more first time buyers onto the first rung of an affordable housing ladder. The aim is to achieve better value for money and more housing options by making smarter use of public sector-owned land and by driving down construction costs. Further information will be set out in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's strategic plan to be published later this year.

Devolution

Mark Lazarowicz: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what steps he is taking to link the work of the core cities working group with the Government's wider devolution agenda.

Nick Raynsford: The final report of the Core Cities Working Group, "Our Cities Are Back," will be launched next month. It will highlight the key role major cities can play in creating prosperous regions in all parts of the UK, and contain an action plan to enhance their links with regional partners and strengthen their contribution to regional economic performance.

Housing

Bob Blizzard: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will provide capital funding for council housing where tenants indicate that they wish to remain under direct local authority management.

Keith Hill: The housing finance system already provides some capital funding for authorities through the Major Repairs Allowance and mainstream capital allocations. Authorities requiring additional funds to deliver decent homes have three options for doing so. There is no fourth option that delivers additional resources.

Sustainable Communities

Lynne Jones: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what definition he uses of a sustainable community.

Phil Hope: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister does not have a standard definition—communities are diverse, and we do not want to be prescriptive. But for a community to be sustainable, it must be a place where people will want to live and work, now and in the future.

Regional Assemblies

Anne McIntosh: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on his plans for scrutiny by his Department of proposals from regional assemblies.

Nick Raynsford: Elected assemblies will be democratically accountable to their voters, not to central Government.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister will of course work closely with them and consider carefully any proposals they make to us.

Canvey Island (Development)

Bob Spink: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what assessment he has made of the decisions of (a) the East of England Development Agency and (b) the Thames Gateway, in respect of further industrial and residential development on Canvey Island.

Keith Hill: There remain on-going discussions between the East of England Development Agency, Castle Point borough council, the Thames Gateway South Essex Partnership and the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister on the regeneration and growth potential of Canvey Island in the context of the Thames Gateway programme. No decisions have yet been made in this regard.

Firefighters (Diabetes)

Adrian Sanders: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what measures have been put in place by the Fire Service to medically assess people with diabetes individually who apply to become firefighters.

Nick Raynsford: To assist the fire and rescue service in meeting its new statutory responsibilities under the Disability Discrimination (Amendment) Act (2003), the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister has produced and issued an advisory document, "Medical and Occupational Evidence for Recruitment and Retention in the Fire and Rescue Service". The document incorporates current available evidence on a number of the most prevalent medical conditions, including diabetes, which may previously have precluded applicants from joining the fire and rescue service. The document is designed to help fire and rescue service medical advisers and managers to assess each individual and reach informed, evidence-based judgments about the person's ability to perform the firefighter role, taking into account any reasonable adjustment that may be necessary.
	Fire and rescue service managers have also been reminded that it is unlawful to exclude an individual from employment purely on the basis of a medical condition or disability, whether or not this would previously have caused their rejection at the point of entry or their medical discharge from the service.

Government Office for London

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister whether the Government Office for London is accountable to (a) the London Assembly and (b) the London Mayor.

Phil Hope: No. The Government Office for London (GOL) is part of central Government. GOL works closely with the Greater London Authority, its functional bodies and many other partners in the capital.

Green Ministers

John Horam: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many meetings of the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers were attended by the Department's Green Minister in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04.

Phil Hope: I am the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's Green Minister and am a member of the Sub-Committee of Green Ministers, ENV(G). It has been established practice under successive Governments not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees. This practice is now formalised by Exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Gypsy/Traveller Sites

Peter Luff: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what evidential basis there is for a national need for gypsy sites; and what plans the Government have to produce national data on the need for gypsy site provision.

Keith Hill: The need for additional gypsy and traveller sites was quantified in the 2003 Office of the Deputy Prime Minister's report, "Local Authority Gypsy/Traveller Sites in England". The bi-annual count of gypsy and traveller caravans will continue to provide valuable information on the level of unauthorised camping in England. In keeping with mainstream housing, the primary responsibility for assessing gypsy and traveller accommodation needs rests with local authorities.

Gypsy/Traveller Sites

Peter Luff: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what guidance he plans to offer local authorities on assessing the need for gypsy sites in local development plans.

Keith Hill: The assessment of need for gypsy and traveller sites will be incorporated into the Local Housing Needs Assessment process. Guidance is currently being revised, and will set out a number of core issues which should be taken into account when considering the needs of the gypsy and traveller community. This will be published and distributed to local authorities in the near future.

Gypsy/Traveller Sites

Peter Luff: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what guidance he plans to offer local authorities on the methodology for carrying out needs assessments for the travelling community.

Keith Hill: Guidance on the appropriate methodological approach for determining the needs of gypsies and travellers under the Local Housing Needs Assessment process is currently being drafted. This will be published in the near future.

Gypsy/Traveller Sites

Peter Luff: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on what basis he determined in relation to the gypsy encampment case at Wyre Piddle dated 4 October that need was unmet; and how he reached this conclusion.

Keith Hill: The reasons for the First Secretary of State, my right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister's decision, including the basis for his decision on need, are set out in his decision letter of 4 October 2004, a copy of which was sent to the hon. Gentleman on that day.

Gypsy/Traveller Sites

James Gray: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many travellers' caravans are illegally parked in England; how many are parked on local authority traveller sites; and how many are on the road on the latest date for which figures are available.

Keith Hill: As at January 2004, the latest date for which published figures are available, there were 5,901 caravans on local authority sites and 3,571 caravans on unauthorised encampments or unauthorised developments of land without planning permission.

Havering Borough Council

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the performance of the London borough of Havering.

Nick Raynsford: Havering LBC was assessed as "weak" by the Audit Commission in the first round of Comprehensive Performance Assessments in 2002.
	Officials in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister have been working with the council, and resources from the Capacity Building Programme have been allocated to support long-term improvement programmes. I met the leader, chief executive and leaders of the council's political groups on Thursday 14 October and, while welcoming their commitment to improvement, emphasised the need for sustained progress on many fronts. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister looks forward to seeing the delivery of this commitment in terms of a measurable and sustainable improvement in performance across the London borough of Havering.

Housing (Southend)

David Amess: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list grants his Department has made for housing in Southend in each of the past three years.

Keith Hill: The readily available information on the funding (£ million) provided by central Government to Southend-on-Sea borough council for housing investment is in the following table. Spend on homelessness is also funded from general revenue support grant and the authority's own resources.
	
		
			 £ million 
			  2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05(38) 
		
		
			 Central Government  support(39) 6.627 6.784 6.369 6.488 
			 Approved development  programme 0.577 1.310 1.420 3.549 
			 Homelessness 0.0 0.189 0.183 0.183 
		
	
	(38) Provisional figures
	(39) Includes an element assumed to be funded from the authority's capital receipts.

Housing above Shops

Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his Department's latest estimate is of the number of residential units available for conversion from unused commercial space above shops to residential properties.

Keith Hill: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister estimates that there is potential to create up to 300,000 dwellings for residential accommodation by converting unused commercial space above shops.

Housing above Shops

Oona King: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will make a statement on the work of the Housing Above Shops Task Force.

Keith Hill: The Housing Above Shops Task Force was established by the British Property Federation and Living Over The Shop Project at the instigation of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in December 2002. The Task Force was asked to advise on measures to overcome perceived barriers preventing more unoccupied space above retail premises from being converted for housing use.
	The report of the Task Force highlighted a number of barriers and made a number of recommendations to overcome them, including the provision of a new advisory and scheme assembly service. The recommendation is being taken forward in a feasibility study being undertaken by the Housing Partnership, which is due to report its findings in the near future.
	The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is, in addition, funding the activities of the Living Over The Shop Project on an interim basis pending the outcome of the feasibility study.

Local Authority Websites

Caroline Spelman: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister pursuant to the answer of 7 September 2004, Official Report, column 1163W, on local authority websites, whether it is permissible for local authority websites to include an external link to a councillor's personal or political website.

Nick Raynsford: There are no legislative provisions prohibiting or otherwise regulating links from a local authority site to a councillor's personal or political external website.

Local Government Finance

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what initiatives he has promoted to local authorities to reduce wastage of financial resources.

Nick Raynsford: The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister is taking forward this issue in a number of respects: through effective auditing arrangements, through intervention in cases of poor performance, through our on-going work to build up capacity, through the use of capping powers to prevent unreasonable increases in council tax and through implementation of the recommendations of the Efficiency Review on local government.

Local Government Finance

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister when the Capital Finance-Prudential Regime evaluation will be implemented; how far implementation will extend; and what the cost of implementation will be to public funds.

Nick Raynsford: The Prudential capital finance system was fully implemented on 1 April 2004 for all local authorities in England. Authorities may borrow without Government consent, provided that they can afford to service the debt without extra Government support. The new system costs no more to run than the old one and should prove more cost-effective, since it is simpler and better integrated with standard accounting practice. It further promotes efficiency by encouraging authorities to pursue projects which generate savings or revenues to cover their borrowing costs. The Office of the Deputy Prime Minister monitors the system and plans to do a full evaluation when authorities have had longer to explore its potential.

Local Government Finance

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what measures the Government has in place to ensure that local authorities spend the money allocated to them by central government in an appropriate way.

Nick Raynsford: Local authorities are independent autonomous bodies responsible for decisions on spending priorities taking into account their statutory responsibilities and the wishes of their electorate. The Government are committed to ensuring that authorities have greater freedoms and flexibilities and to ensuring that ring-fencing is only introduced where it is appropriate to do so.
	Local authorities must protect and be accountable for the funds that they handle. Thus it is essential that their accounts are audited annually by an independent auditor.
	Part of the auditor's statutory duties are to be satisfied that proper arrangements have been made for securing economy, efficiency and effectiveness in the use of resources. In the case of local authorities, auditors may give electors the opportunity to raise questions about the accounts, and to consider and decide upon objections received in relation to the accounts. Also the auditor may consider applying to the Courts if an item of account is unlawful.

Local Government Finance

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  if he will make a statement on the funding of local government;
	(2)  how much central Government money each London borough will receive in each of the next three years.

Nick Raynsford: A statement on formula grant allocations for 2005–06 will be made in due course.

Local Government Finance (York)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much City of York council received in Government grant in (a) cash and (b) real terms in each year since it was established as a unitary council; and by how much in real terms its Government grant changed in each of those years.

Nick Raynsford: The amount of Government grant City of York council has received in (a) cash and (b) real terms each year since 1996–97 and the real terms percentage change is tabled as follows:
	
		
			  Cash (£000) Real terms (£000) Real terms percentage change 
		
		
			 1996–97 81,884 99,557 — 
			 1997–98 81,176 96,226 -3.3 
			 1998–99 84,654 97,538 1.4 
			 1999–2000 90,658 102,227 4.8 
			 2000–01 98,955 110,302 7.9 
			 2001–02 105,374 114,541 3.8 
			 2002–03 112,222 118,014 3.0 
			 2003–04 116,580 119,271 1.1 
			 2004–05 130,936 130,936 9.8 
		
	
	Source:
	Local Government Financial Statistics—England: various years.
	The data show actual outturn figures for all years except 2003–04 and 2004–05 which budget estimates.
	Government grants are defined here in terms of Revenue Support Grant, specific and special grants within Aggregate External Finance (AEF) and distributable amount from non-domestic pool.
	The figures have been re-valued for previous years at 2004–05 prices using the latest GDP deflators.

London Assembly

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much central Government money was given to the Greater London Assembly in this financial year.

Nick Raynsford: The Government this year are giving the following block funding to the Greater London Authority and its four functional bodies (Transport for London, Metropolitan Police Authority, London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority and London Development Agency):
	
		
			 Grant £ million 
		
		
			 GLA general grant 36.3 
			 GLA transport grant (for TfL) 2,224.5 
			 Police grant (for MPA) 1,123.1 
			 Revenue support grant (for MPA and LFEPA) 796.5 
			 Non-domestic rates (for MPA and LFEPA) 171.3 
			 LDA grant 316.1 
			 Total 4,667.8

London Assembly

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how much central Government money will be given to the Greater London Assembly in each of the next five years.

Nick Raynsford: The Department for Transport announced in July the following settlement for the Greater London Authority Transport Grant (for TfL) over the next five years:
	
		
			  £ million 
		
		
			 2005–06 2,161 
			 2006–07 2,383 
			 2007–08 2,544 
			 2008–09 2,528 
			 2009–10 2,651 
		
	
	Government funding to the GLA and its other functional bodies for 2005–06 and beyond has not yet been announced.

Park Homes

Bob Spink: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister on what basis he proposes using general inflation to determine the annual increase in the maximum pitch fee for park homes.

Keith Hill: The standard written agreement, as used and endorsed by the main industry bodies, uses general inflation in calculating the pitch fee increase. This agreement is used by the majority of park home site owners in the country and after consideration it was felt unnecessary to change from this measure of inflation.

Regional Government

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister how many times he has visited each of the regional assemblies over the last three years.

Nick Raynsford: The information requested can be provided only at disproportionate cost. My right hon. Friend the Deputy Prime Minister meets regularly with Regional Chamber Chairs, members, and officers during his regional visits.

Regional Government

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister 
	(1)  if he will make a statement regarding the financing of regional assemblies, with specific reference to capital building programmes;
	(2)  what proportion of tax collected in 2002–03 was spent on regional assemblies.

Nick Raynsford: The existing voluntary Regional Chambers (who style themselves Regional Assemblies) each receive an annual grant from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. Grant conditions in the funding agreement letters determine permitted expenditure. These do not include capital building programmes.
	In 2002–03 the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister made grants totalling £5 million to the Regional Chambers.

Rescue Control Centres

Diana Organ: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what weight he will give to local knowledge of location and geography in delivering good response times in rescue services when deciding whether rescue control centres in the South West are merged into one regional centre.

Nick Raynsford: The location of a fire and rescue control centre does not impact on response times. Service standards for the new regional control centres will at a minimum be equal to present best practice. Local knowledge has not been relied upon in fire service control rooms since the introduction of computerised gazetteers in the 1980s. The new centres will employ state-of-the-art technology which, along with comprehensive training, will provide effective support to control room staff for resource and incident management.

Rescue Control Centres

Diana Organ: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will ensure that each of the fire authorities of the South West will continue to set and maintain standards and service if the rescue control centres are merged into one regional control centre.

Nick Raynsford: Each regional control centre will be accountable to its constituent authorities. There will be a consistent national standard established for the time taken to answer calls and mobilise to incidents. Proposals for a national standard for mobilisation, developed by the Chief Fire Officers Association, are currently being reviewed by fire and rescue authorities. As part of the Integrated Risk Management Plan, each Fire and Rescue Authority will set its own response standards based on risk to the local communities.

Revenue Support Grant

Martin Salter: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the amount of revenue support grant awarded to (a) district councils, (b) metropolitan councils, (c) unitary authorities and (d) county councils in each year since 2001.

Nick Raynsford: The following table provides the amount of revenue support grant (RSG) and redistributed business rates (NNDR) for each year since 2001–02, that has been allocated to:
	(a) district councils in 2-tier shire areas;
	(b) metropolitan district councils;
	(c) shire unitary authorities; and
	(d) county councils in 2-tier shire areas.
	The sum of RSG plus NNDR is known as formula grant. In order to look at comparisons of the amount of grant provided year-on-year it is important to consider formula grant rather than RSG. The amount of RSG allocated each year depends on the amount of NNDR.
	It is not possible to directly compare the data year-on-year due to changes in funding and function. Therefore also provided in the table is the adjusted formula grant to enable a like-for-like comparison year-on-year. The increases year-on-year have also been provided for convenience.
	
		
			  Revenue support grant (£ million) Redistributed business rates (£ million) Formula grant (£ million) Year-on-year change (£ million) Year-on year percentage change 
		
		
			 Shire districts  
			 2001–02 633.063 864.867 1,497.930 — — 
			 2001–02 adjusted 578.971 894.303 1,473.274 — — 
			 2002–03 569.044 973.748 1,542.792 69.518 4.7 
			 2002–03 adjusted 529.857 973.748 1,503.606 — — 
			 2003–04 814.738 802.100 1,616.837 113.232 7.5 
			 2003–04 adjusted 629.519 802.100 1,431.618 — — 
			 2004–05 859.097 629.352 1,488.449 56.830 4.0 
			   
			 Metropolitan districts
			 2001–02 5,344.186 3,026.190 8,370.376 — — 
			 2001–02 adjusted 5,055.078 3,019.415 8,074.493 — — 
			 2002–03 5,152.774 3,307.286 8,460.061 385.568 4.8 
			 2002–03 adjusted 5,391.988 3,307.286 8,699.274 — — 
			 2003–04 6,166.724 3,168.304 9,335.028 635.753 7.3 
			 2003–04 adjusted 6,156.201 3,168.304 9,324.505 — — 
			 2004–05 6,811.468 3,039.384 9,850.852 526.347 5.6 
			   
			 Shire unitary authorities
			 2001–02 3,207.264 2,333.455 5,540.719 — — 
			 2001–02 adjusted 3,007.441 2,331.183 5,338.624 — — 
			 2002–03 3,053.562 2,559.144 5,612.706 274.082 5.1 
			 2002–03 adjusted 3,246.126 2,559.144 5,805.270 — — 
			 2003–04 3,699.087 2,478.129 6,177.216 371.947 6.4 
			 2003–04 adjusted 3,588.316 2,396.441 5,984.758 — — 
			 2004–05 4,034.018 2,297.257 6,331.275 346.517 5.8 
			   
			 Shire counties  
			 2001–02 5,908.980 5,614.625 11,523.605 — — 
			 2001–02 adjusted 5,266.636 5,578.881 10,845.517 — — 
			 2002–03 5,358.952 6,152.949 11,511.901 666.384 6.1 
			 2002–03 adjusted 5,951.906 6,152.949 12,104.854 — — 
			 2003–04 6,631.993 6,161.584 12,793.577 688.723 5.7 
			 2003–04 adjusted 6,557.891 6,020.256 12,578.147 — — 
			 2004–05 7,488.462 5,913.293 13,401.755 823.608 6.5

Theft and Fraud

Mark Prisk: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister what his estimate is of the cost of theft and fraud to (a) his Department, (b) its agencies and (c) non-departmental public bodies in each year since 1997.

Phil Hope: I refer the hon. Member to the answers given to the hon. Member for Meriden (Mrs. Spelman) on 1 September 2004, Official Report, column 751W and 11 October 2004, Official Report, column 105W. Detailed information in respect of fraud and theft in non-departmental public bodies (NDPBs) is not held centrally and could be provided only at disproportionate cost.

Yorkshire Regional Assembly

John Greenway: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister if he will list the sources of funding for the Yorkshire Regional Assembly.

Nick Raynsford: The Yorkshire and Humber Assembly receives an annual grant from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister. This grant supports the Assembly in the performance of its designated functions to scrutinise the work of its Regional Development Agency, Yorkshire Forward; fulfil its regional planning responsibilities; and for the development of its strategic regional role.
	In 2003–04, the total Government grant paid to the Assembly was £1,655,000.
	The Assembly is encouraged to also seek financial support from bodies within the region. This is entirely a matter for the Assembly itself.

HEALTH

Autopsies (BSE)

Roger Godsiff: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will introduce measures routinely to permit autopsies of people who die before the age of 45 years to include tests that would establish whether they were unknowingly carrying the human form of BSE.

Melanie Johnson: We have no plans to introduce such measures. The Human Tissue Bill, currently before Parliament, covers the regulation of activities involving human tissue, including provisions as to consent requirements.

Cannabinoids

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what recent assessment has been made of the merits of using cannabinoids for the relief of (a) pain and (b) symptoms of multiple sclerosis and nausea.

Rosie Winterton: The Department supports scientific research into the therapeutic use of cannabinoids, the unique ingredients of cannabis. This research may produce longer-term solutions to relieving the symptoms of multiple sclerosis and other clinical conditions.
	A Medical Research Council (MRC) supported clinical trial to attempt to measure the therapeutic effects of cannabis extract in persons with multiple sclerosis was published in November 2003. The MRC supported it with a grant to Dr. John Zajicek, a consultant neurologist at Derriford Hospital in Plymouth, to undertake a three-year study. Current details about Dr. Zajicek's clinical trial including the author's summary of the findings may be found at the trial website at http://www.cannabis-trial.plymouth.ac.uk/.
	In addition, a programme to develop a medicine derived from cannabis for pain relief and associated conditions for multiple sclerosis patients is also under way. The work is led by Dr. Guy of GW Pharmaceuticals Ltd. Current details about the clinical trials being sponsored by GW Pharmaceuticals Ltd. may be obtained from the company's website at http://www.gwpharm.com/rese clin index.html.
	As a result of these trials, a marketing authorisation application for Sativex, cannabis extract containing tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol, was received by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) from GW Pharmaceuticals in 2003.
	This application is currently under assessment by the MHRA. The MHRA will grant a marketing authorisation when it is satisfied that the appropriate standards of quality, safety and efficacy of Sativex have been met.
	With regard to the merit of using cannabinoids for the relief of symptoms of nausea, a marketing authorisation exists for Nabilone, a synthetic cannabinoid with anti-emetic properties. Nabilone is indicated for the control of nausea and vomiting, caused by chemotherapeutic agents used in the treatment of cancer, in patients who have failed to respond adequately to conventional anti-emetic treatments.

Chlamydia

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what steps he is taking to reduce the prevalence of chlamydia in younger people.

Melanie Johnson: holding answer 15 October 2004
	As part of the implementation of the Government's national strategy for sexual health and HIV, the Department is rolling out a chlamydia screening programme across the country. Already the programme covers more than a quarter of primary care trusts in England, covering an estimated 30 per cent. of all young people aged 15 to 24 in England.
	We have also invested £8 million to enable laboratories to switch to the more reliable and non-invasive type of chlamydia test. We are also raising awareness of chlamydia and other sexually transmitted infections, through national media campaigns targeting young people. Further details of the action being taken to reduce sexually transmitted national strategy for sexual health and HIV is available in the Library and on the Department's website at: www.dh.gov.uk

Chlamydia

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the national Chlamydia screening programme covers the South Birmingham area.

Melanie Johnson: Under phase 2 of the national Chlamydia screening programme, a consortium of primary care trusts in the Birmingham area, including South Birmingham, were awarded funding of £530,000 for the years 2003–04 to 2004–05 to participate in the programme.

Chorley and South Ribble Hospital

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many hours a day on average the operating theatre at Chorley and South Ribble Hospital was available for use in each of the last three years; and what the proposed availability is for the next three years;
	(2)  how many emergency medical patients have been transferred for operations from Chorley to Preston in each of the last three years;
	(3)  how many trauma patients were taken to the Royal Preston hospital from the Chorley and South Ribble catchment area in the last 12 months;
	(4)  how many patients are expected to be treated at (a) Preston and (b) Chorley hospital under the proposed new arrangements for emergency medical surgery and gynaecology;
	(5)  if he will list the services which are proposed for transfer from Chorley and South Ribble hospital to Royal Preston hospital.

Melanie Johnson: This information is not collected centrally.

Chorley and South Ribble Hospital

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many doctors were working at Chorley and South Ribble Accident and Emergency in each of the last three years; and how many are planned for each of the next three years.

Melanie Johnson: Information is gathered on a trust basis, The Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust was formed in 2002 from the merger of the Chorley and South Ribble National Health Service Trust and the Preston Acute NHS Trust.
	Data are shown in the table for the Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust and the Preston Acute NHS Trust for 2001 and the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust for 2002 and 2003.
	Information is not available centrally on plans for staffing levels.
	
		As at 30 SeptemberNumber (headcount)
		
			  2001 2002 2003 
			 Chorley and South Ribble NHS Trust
		
		
			 All staff 20 n/a n/a 
			 Consultant 3 n/a n/a 
			  
			 Preston Acute Hospitals NHS Trust
			 All staff 23 n/a n/a 
			 Consultant 5 n/a n/a 
			  
			 Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust
			 All staff n/a 38 37 
			 Consultant n/a 7 7 
		
	
	n/a = Not applicable
	Source:
	Department of Health medical and dental workforce census

Departmental Grants

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much his Department has awarded in each of the last three years in grants to the charitable and public sectors.

Stephen Ladyman: The Department's main funding stream to the voluntary and community sector is through grants awarded under section 64 of the Health Services and Public Health Services Act 1968 and the opportunities for volunteering scheme. The amounts available in the last three years are shown in the table.
	
		
			£ million 
			 Grant 2002–03 2003–04 2004–05 
		
		
			 Section 64 general scheme 22.1 21.4 (40)17. 8 
			 
			 Section 64 specific schemes:
			 Tobacco initiative — 1.6 1.6 
			 Carers initiative — 0.3 0.3 
			 Doctor patient partnership — 0.5 0.5 
			 Direct payments development — 3.0 3.0 
			 Family fund 21.8 21.8 (41)— 
			 Social care institute for excellence 3.2 4.4 4.4 
			 Women's aid federation 0.05 — — 
			 Promoting independence 0.15 0.18 0.15 
			 Families with children 0.9 0.9 0.9 
			 
			 Opportunities for volunteering 6.9 6.9 6.9 
		
	
	(40) An additional £4.2 million transferred to the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) for projects relating to children's social care policy following reorganisation of departmental responsibilities for children social services.
	(41) Scheme transferred to DfES.

Drug Rehabilitation Places

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many drug rehabilitation places were available in (a) the Castle Point and Rochford Primary Care Trust area and (b) Essex in 2003–04.

Stephen Ladyman: The information requested is not collected centrally.

Epilepsy

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many surgical operations have been carried out to treat epilepsy in each of the last five years in England.

Melanie Johnson: Counts of finished consultant episodes for 1998–99 to 2002–03 for patients diagnosed with epilepsy and requiring an operation are shown in the table.
	
		Primary diagnosis (ICD-10 diagnosis codes G40, G41)—epilepsy. Count of finished consultant episodes (FCEs) with an operation. National health service hospitals, England 1998–99 to 2002–03
		
			  FCEs 
		
		
			 1998–99 4,851 
			 1999–2000 4,682 
			 2000–01 4,541 
			 2001–02 3,979 
			 2002–03 3,987 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. The primary diagnosis is the first of up to 14 (seven prior to 2002–03) diagnosis fields in the hospital episode statistics (HES) data set and provides the main reason why the patient was in hospital.
	2. An FCE is defined as a period of admitted patient care under one consultant within one healthcare provider. Please note that the figures do not represent the number of patients, as a person may have more than one episode of care within the year.
	3. Figures are grossed for both coverage and missing/invalid clinical data, except for 2002–03, which are not yet adjusted for shortfalls.
	Source:
	HES, Department of Health.

Foot Operations

John Baron: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the reasons are for the differences between the system of monitoring foot operations carried out by orthopaedic surgeons and that for monitoring operations carried out by podiatric surgeons; and what plans he has to standardise such monitoring systems.

Melanie Johnson: holding answer 13 September 2004
	Minor procedures to the feet are generally performed on an out-patient basis, that is, without admitting the patient. There is currently no mandated collection of data on out-patient procedures, regardless of which type of professional is responsible for the work. Any data collected locally are outside of departmental requirements and the decision to collect and monitor such information rests with the front line organisations.

Gender Dysphoria

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will list the average waiting times for a first appointment at each gender identity clinic for people suffering from gender dysphoria.

John Hutton: This information is not collected centrally.

Grapefruit Consumption

Howard Stoate: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment (a) his Department and (b) the NHS have made of the possible health benefits to individuals of the regular consumption of grapefruits and grapefruit juice.

Melanie Johnson: We are not aware of any studies that focus specifically on the potential health benefits of consuming grapefruit or grapefruit juice. However, there is clear and growing evidence for the protective effects of eating fruit and vegetables against chronic diseases such as heart disease, stroke and cancer. Eating at least five portions of a variety of fruit and vegetables a day on average could lead to estimated reductions of up to 20 per cent., in overall deaths from such diseases.

GPs (Greater London)

Simon Hughes: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average general practitioner list size was in Greater London, broken down by national health service trust, in each of the last 10 years.

John Hutton: pursuant to his reply, 11 May 2004, Official Report, c. 313W
	I regret that the figures provided in my previous response were incorrect, due to an error in the published figures. Correct figures have now been placed in the Library.

Health Services

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what new clinical services have been provided at York District Hospital since 1997; and if he will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: The information requested is shown in the table.
	
		
			  New clinical services 
		
		
			 2003–04 Ear, nose and throat: voice and balance clinics, disphonia service. Ophthalmology: photo dynamic therapy Haematology: Dd-Dimer testing Histopathology: automated immunocytochemistry stainers. Sexual health: chlamydia screening 
			 2002–03 General surgery and urology: nurse enhanced unit Orthopaedics: Community based rehabilitation Respiratory medicine: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease service Chemical pathology: Troponin T testing 
			 2001–02 Cardiology: thrombolysis service 
			 2000–01 Renal medicine: satellite dialysis unit 
			 1999–2000 Orthopaedics: ERP physiotherapy triage of orthopaedic referrals. Ophthalmology: glaucoma service 
			 1998–99 Anaesthetics: intensive pre-operative care with high risk patients. General medicine: medical admissions ward Renal medicine : York renal dialysis unit Gastroenterology: open access endoscopy 
			 1997–98 Clinical haematology: anti coagulation clinic Diabetology: retinal screening service. 
			  Ear, nose and throat: bone anchored hearing aid service 
		
	
	Source:
	York Hospitals National Health Service Trust

Health Services

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many nurses have completed (a) basic and (b) advanced training courses at York nursing school in each year since 1997.

Melanie Johnson: Information is not collected centrally on the number of nurses completing training recruited into the national health service or still working in the NHS. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) holds information on the number of nurses and midwifes initially entering the register, a pre-requisite for employment in the NHS and other sectors in the United Kingdom. This information can be found on the NMC website at www.nmc-uk.org.

Health Services

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the average NHS expenditure per household in (a) England, (b) Yorkshire and the Humber and (c) York was (i) in cash terms and (ii) at current prices in (A) 1997 and (B) the latest year for which figures are available.

John Hutton: The information is not collected centrally in the format requested.
	The tables show expenditure per weighted head of population in England, and in the Yorkshire and Humberside Region, in cash terms and at 2003–04 prices, by strategic health authority area, for 1997–98 and 2003–04, which is the latest year for which figures are available.
	
		Expenditure per head, in cash terms (£)
		
			 Strategic health authority area 1997–98 2003–04 
		
		
			 North and East Yorkshire and Northern  Lincolnshire 616.66 1,112.53 
			 West Yorkshire 626.14 1,135.64 
			 South Yorkshire 644.95 1,200.84 
			 England 607.85 1,115.25 
		
	
	
		Expenditure per head, at 2003–04 prices (£)
		
			 Strategic health authority area 1997–98 2003–04 
		
		
			 North and East Yorkshire and Northern  Lincolnshire 714.50 1,112.53 
			 West Yorkshire 725.48 1,135.64 
			 South Yorkshire 747.27 1,200.84 
			 England 704.29 1,115.25 
		
	
	Notes:
	1. Expenditure is taken from audited health authority accounts and primary care trust summarisation schedules, which are prepared on a resource basis and therefore differ from cash allocations in the year. The expenditure is the total expenditure by the relevant health authorities for both years, and the commissioner costs of the primary care trusts for 2003–04.
	2. The total NHS expenditure cannot be identified by health authority area because the majority of general dental services expenditure is not included in the individual health authority accounts or primary care trust summarisation schedules and is separately accounted for by the Dental Practice Board. The majority of pharmaceutical services expenditure is accounted for by the Prescription Pricing Authority and not by health authorities or primary care trusts.
	3. Figures for 1997–98 have been prepared using gross expenditure figures. Figures for 2003–04 based on strategic health authority areas have been adjusted to eliminate expenditure, which would be double counted where an authority acts as a lead in commissioning healthcare or other services.
	Sources:
	Audited accounts of the health authorities 1997–98.
	Audited summarisation forms of the strategic health authorities 2003–04.
	Audited summarisation schedules of primary care trusts within the health authority areas 2003–04
	Weighted population figures Her Majesty's Treasury Gross Domestic Product deflator.

Healthy Living

Don Foster: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many times his Department has consulted members of the academic community with regard to health consequences of (a) smoking, (b) alcohol and (c) physical inactivity since January; and if he will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: The Department consults on the health consequences of smoking on a quarterly basis through the independent scientific committee on tobacco and health. On alcohol, the alcohol harm reduction strategy for England 2004 was subject to four consultation events in London, Newcastle, Bristol and Manchester, which included the academic community. On physical inactivity, the Department is in regular contact with a wide range of academics in this field of research.

Hospital Trusts

Sandra Gidley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how much funding was allocated to each hospital trust in each of the last three years.

John Hutton: holding answer 15 October 2004
	National health service trusts do not normally receive funding direct from the Department, but receive income for service provision largely from primary care trusts. Information showing the total income, including all income from activities and all other operating income, for all English NHS trusts which were in existence in the years 2001–02 to 2003–04, has been placed in the Library.

Human Genetics Commission

Mohammad Sarwar: To ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the membership of the Human Genetics Commission.

Melanie Johnson: The Human Genetics Commission (HGC) advises Government on current and potential developments in human genetics and the likely impact on human health and healthcare as well as the social, ethical, legal and economic implications. It has 24 members, including experts in clinical and research genetics, consumer affairs, ethics, law, media, primary care, and those with experience in genetic conditions.
	A full list of members is available on the HGC's website at http://www.hgc.gov.uk/about members.htm.

Infection Control

Judy Mallaber: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what quality criteria will be required for the use of microfibre products for cleaning hospitals in order to maintain the highest standards of hygiene;
	(2)  what evaluation has been made by his Department of the use of microfibre materials for cleaning in hospitals.

John Hutton: NHS Estates commissioned the association of domestic managers to review the operational components of microfibre technology and provide their professional and technical advice. We are also aware of the outcome of the scientific study into microfibre technology undertaken at Whipps Cross hospital. Both of these reports are currently being considered to determine any further steps which need to be taken prior to providing advice and guidance to the national health service.
	Decisions on the use of specific cleaning products and systems are for local determination and should be taken in full consultation with the director of infection prevention and control. However, we would expect as a minimum that use of microfibre products and technology ensures standards at least as good as the best conventional alternatives available.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  if he will make a statement on the financial situation of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust;
	(2)  if he will make a statement on the financial position of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust on the latest date for which figures are available.

Melanie Johnson: holding answer 19 October 2004
	I understand that in August 2004, the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals National Health Service Trust reported a deficit of £1.8 million.
	I am advised that Cumbria and Lancashire strategic health authority is confident that the financial problems faced by the trust can be overcome without detriment to patient care and that financial balance can be achieved by 31 March 2005.
	For the financial year 2003–04, the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust reported a retained surplus of £4,000.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what role the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust plays in consulting (a) other bodies and (b) members of the public when services are being reconfigured; and which organisations it is required to consult;
	(2)  what role strategic health authorities play in moving services between hospitals within a trust;
	(3)  what consultation process he requires to be followed when services are moved between hospitals under one hospital trust;
	(4)  how a decision is made on what constitutes substantial change in hospital services; and who makes this decision.

Melanie Johnson: National health service organisations are required to consult when reconfiguring services. These duties are set out in sections 7 and 11 of the Health and Social Care Act 2001. Section 7 of the Act requires that if an NHS organisation is proposing to develop or vary services substantially, it must consult the overview and scrutiny committees of those local authorities whose residents are affected by the proposed changes. Section 11 requires NHS bodies to consult patients, the public and their representatives on changes to the operation of services irrespective of whether they are substantial changes.
	NHS organisations will need to discuss any proposals for service change with the relevant overview and scrutiny committees at an early stage, in order to agree whether or not the proposal is considered to be substantial. It is the decision of the overview and scrutiny committees to decide whether the proposal impacts substantially on their local residents.
	Any NHS trust which plans to make changes to the operation of services for which it is responsible, must consult patients, the public and their representatives. If those proposals represent substantial changes, then the overview and scrutiny committees of those local authority areas that are affected by the proposed changes must also be considered.
	Strategic health authorities are responsible for ensuring strong, clinically robust services are in place, taking account of access, clinical viability, value for money and external views of best clinical practice. The primary care trusts and NHS trusts make the judgements about the shape and delivery of services to their local area.

Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what his policy is on the transmission to hon. Members by the trust concerned of reports by the Royal College of Surgeons on the future of services at their local hospital;
	(2)  if he will place in the Library the minutes of meetings between the Royal College of Surgeons and the Chief Executive and Chair of Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust;
	(3)  if he will place in the Library copies of the letters sent from Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust to the local district and town and parish councils;
	(4)  how many hon. Members were consulted over changes in provision of services at Chorley and South Ribble District Hospital;
	(5)  if he will make available the minutes of meetings held between the Royal College of Surgeons and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust over the decision to move emergency medical surgery to Royal Preston Hospital.

Melanie Johnson: holding answer 19 October 2004
	These are matters for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals National Health Service Trust.

Maternity/Children's Services

Paul Goodman: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many proposals for the reconfiguration of maternity and children's services were withdrawn after consultation with the public in (a) 2001, (b) 2002 and (c) 2003.

Stephen Ladyman: Reconfiguration of local services is a matter for local decision. We therefore do not collect information on this centrally.

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency

Paul Flynn: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment he has made of the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency's advice not to use risperidone and olanzapine to treat behavioural problems in older patients with dementia; and when new guidelines will be published in managing dementia.

Stephen Ladyman: In March 2004, the Government's independent scientific advisory committee, the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) advised that risperidone and olanzapine should not be used in the treatment of behavioural symptoms of dementia because of an increased risk of stroke. The high absolute risk of stroke associated with these products was considered to outweigh any benefits in treatment of behavioural symptoms of dementia. The advice was issued after careful consideration of all available data, possible clinical implications and advice from an expert working group, which included expertise in the management of behavioural problems in older patients with dementia. The CSM considered it important that risperidone remained an option for the short term treatment of acute psychoses in patients with dementia.
	Comprehensive treatment guidelines on the management of dementia developed in collaboration with the Royal College of Psychiatrists, British Geriatric Society, Royal College of Nurses, Alzheimer's Society and National Care Standards Commission were published to coincide with the CSM advice, together with an information sheet for patients and carers.
	The National Institute for Clinical Excellence is currently developing a guideline on the management of dementia, including use of antipsychotic medication in older people in collaboration with the Social Care Institute for Excellence. The expected date of issue of this guideline is February 2007.

Mental Health (Human Rights)

Lynne Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Health for what reasons the UK is reserving the right not to implement Council of Europe Recommendation No. Rec (2004) 10 concerning the protection of the human rights and dignity of persons with mental disorder; and which sections of the Recommendation it objects to.

Rosie Winterton: The Government fully supports the majority of the Recommendation, including the principle that involuntary placement of persons with mental disorder should include a therapeutic purpose. We had no wish to oppose its adoption. However, because we are in the process of revising important aspects of legislation in England and Wales on mental health and mental capacity, we were not in a position to identify definitively whether there were specific points in the Recommendation on which we might wish to reserve our right not to comply. We therefore said that, at this stage, the United Kingdom wished to reserve its right not to comply with the provisions of the Recommendation generally.

MMR Vaccine

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the NHS has sufficient stocks of the MMR vaccine to cope with additional demand in the event of an outbreak of measles or mumps; and if he will make a statement.

Melanie Johnson: Sufficient stocks of the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine are held and will be made available should an outbreak of measles or mumps (or rubella) occur. This should not cause any disruption to the childhood programme.

National IT Programme

Richard Bacon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the financing arrangements are for the National Programme for IT in the national health service; and what steps the Government are taking to secure the buy-in of clinicians to the programme.

John Hutton: £2.3 billion has been earmarked from central funding for the national programme for information technology (NPfIT) over the three years 2003–04 to 2005–06. This will be complemented by national health service baseline spending on IT, already around £1 billion a year in the NHS as a whole. The roll-out of core national applications will continue to come from this earmarked sum. Individual general practitioner practices will receive funding to upgrade to NPfIT systems through their primary care trusts (PCTs). In addition, the NPfIT will cover the cost of suppliers developing training material, including e-training services, and training the trainers in the use of new IT services. In all, over £6 billion worth of contracts are now in place covering the whole lifetime of the NPfIT.
	Consultation and dialogue with clinical and other professional representative groups has been central to the NPfIT at all stages. As well as the national professional bodies and groups, the NPfIT team has also engaged closely with individual expert primary care practitioners, including practising GPs. This consultation helped to inform the user requirement which was published in the NPfIT's output-based specification. Clinicians and users were also involved in evaluating the proof of solution demonstrators developed by suppliers, and in evaluating the supplier bid. In the procurement and delivery process, particularly in the development and testing phases, representative stakeholders are being consulted to ensure that their requirements and concerns are taken into account and that a proper focus on delivering benefits is maintained through all phases of the NPflT.
	In addition, the care record development board, whose establishment we announced in July, has its membership drawn from clinicians as well as representatives of patients and social care. Each of the component projects of the NPfIT also has a clinical lead.

National IT Programme

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what investigation has been made into the case of the process for transferring data from the current primary care computer system to the National Programme for IT.

John Hutton: The National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) aims to ensure that new systems integrate and interoperate with existing systems, and is providing the testing environment for existing systems suppliers to achieve compliance and integration with NPfIT systems. In most cases, existing electronic patient records will be able to interface with NPfIT systems and the nationally available national health service care records service.
	The migration of data is not a novel process and occurs at local level every time there is a refresh or upgrade of existing systems. Standard IT protocols allow for data to be recovered if problems are encountered during transfer to ensure that data is not lost, and the NPflTs contracts with its suppliers require data back-ups to be taken regularly.

National IT Programme

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what advantages the National Programme for IT has that the current system is not providing.

John Hutton: Prior to the National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT), individual general practitioner practices or primary care trusts were able to procure IT support to their own specification and contractual arrangements This has resulted in a fragmented and disparate approach to specification, standards, interoperability, system availability and performance. A number of general practice surgeries and hospitals have some form of electronic patient record, some of which can share information within the practice or hospital. However, because of the wide variety of systems in use, information cannot easily be shared outside the location in which it originates. This inhibits the sharing of patient information and the development and implementation of care pathways. But many organisations are still largely paper-based, which creates a serious obstacle to the modernisation of care, including delivery of national service frameworks. The NPfIT will address this by creating a nationwide electronic system, allowing the transfer of patient records and images, electronic prescribing and the online booking of hospital appointments.
	The NPfIT is providing powerful IT solutions to improve capacity and performance and deliver key national health service priorities. There are four key deliverables: electronic appointment booking, an integrated care records service, electronic prescribing and an underpinning IT infrastructure with sufficient connectivity and broadband capacity to support the critical national applications and local systems. Additional functions will include GP to GP messaging, which will cut the time needed to find essential information, notes and test results, instantaneous digital picture archiving, and clinical decision support tools. The result will be to relieve doctors of unnecessary administrative burdens, and free up their time to do what they do best—deliver better, faster and safer care to more patients.
	However, the key focus of benefits from implementing NPfIT is on patients. For example, electronic booking of hospital appointments will bring patient choice and convenience as well as reducing non-attendance, which costs the NHS millions of pounds each year. Electronic storage and transmission of patient images will reduce the need for repeat X-rays and will reduce diagnostic waiting times. As a result, patients will experience a modern, IT-enabled NHS when they come into contact with the service.

National IT Programme

Keith Vaz: To ask the Secretary of State for Health whether the National Programme for IT has been subject to testing and user feedback to ensure that it will work as efficiently as the current system.

John Hutton: Many of the components which the National Programme for Information Technology (NPfIT) will deliver across the national health service are already in use at a local level and many of the technologies are already well proven. There have also been a number of pilot projects to examine the operation of electronic booking which has been in existence in England in this form since 2002. These have demonstrated that where patients participate in the booking of their appointments and admissions, they are far more likely to attend. Electronic patient records and electronic prescribing are examples of existing systems already in use at a local level and the NPfIT has received feedback on the advantages of these systems from clinicians, managers and administrators.
	Consultation and dialogue with clinical and other professional representative groups has been central to the NPfIT at all stages. As well as the national professional bodies and groups, the NPfIT team has also engaged closely with individual expert primary care practitioners, including practising general practitioners. This consultation helped to inform the user requirement which was published in the NPflT's output-based specification. Clinicians and users were also involved in evaluating the proof of solution demonstrators developed by suppliers, and in evaluating the supplier bid. In the procurement and delivery process, particularly in the development and testing phases, representative stakeholders are being consulted to ensure that their requirements and concerns are taken into account and that a proper focus on delivering benefits is maintained through all phases of the NPflT.

Non-NICE Appraised Treatments

Andy King: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what arrangements are in place for the period to 2008 to allow patients to be treated with non-National Institute for Clinical Excellence appraised treatments if it is their choice and their clinicians concur, in (a) hospital and (b) primary care.

John Hutton: The national health service is expected to take full account of the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) guidance. Clinicians have to make an independent clinical judgment, taking due account of NICE's advice and the strength of evidence which lies behind it. They may depart from the advice if, in their view, the circumstances of the individual patient justify doing so. But they will be held accountable, through clinical governance arrangements, for their clinical decisions.
	When considering the funding of any treatment currently being appraised by NICE, or where no appraisal has been commissioned, funding authorities are expected to use their existing local arrangements and consider the evidence available to them on the clinical effectiveness of the treatment.
	The Department has made it clear to health authorities and primary care trust that funding for treatments should not be withheld simply because guidance from NICE is unavailable or not yet published and we are happy to reiterate that via the strategic health authorities.

Orthotic Footwear

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many contracts the NHS has for orthotic footwear.

John Hutton: The national health service has no contracts for orthotic footwear, but rather two national framework agreements. This allows the NHS the flexibility to purchase the best orthotic footwear without guarantees to any one supplier.
	The two agreements for orthotic footwear are:
	for custom made orthoses, which covers made to measure footwear.
	for stock and modular footwear, which covers a range of manufacturers and designs for off-the-shelf shoes.
	In addition, trusts may have their own local agreements for stock and modular footwear. However, the majority of the English NHS trusts have adopted the schedule numbers for custom-made orthotic footwear.

Orthotic Footwear

John Mann: To ask the Secretary of State for Health when the NHS design specification for orthotic footwear was last updated.

John Hutton: The basic national health service design specification has been in place for a number of years and initially gave suppliers guidelines on the manufacture of patient appliances, including orthotic footwear. These guidelines were accompanied by generic schedule numbers/codes for each part of the manufacturing process and provided a standard structure for manufacture and costing.
	The principle behind these schedule numbers still remains for the national framework agreement for orthoses but, over the years, the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency has worked in partnership with industry, clinicians and trusts to update these codes to ensure they reflect current practise.
	Due to advances in technology the range of stock and modular footwear has improved dramatically so that only patients with really complex needs require custom made footwear.

Paramedic Ambulances (Chorley)

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many paramedic ambulances are available in the Chorley constituency.

Melanie Johnson: This information is not collected centrally.

Petrol Filling Stations

Norman Baker: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what assessment has been made of whether there is a risk to children of illness due to living close to petrol filling stations.

Melanie Johnson: The Department has not undertaken a specific assessment of the risks to children of illness due to living close to petrol stations.
	The Department's committee on the carcinogenicity of chemicals in food, consumer products and the environment will start a review of childhood cancer and its possible associations with environmental chemicals (including benzene) at its November meeting.

Primary Care Centres

Paul Burstow: To ask the Secretary of State for Health pursuant to the answer of 21 September 2004, Official Report, column 1995W, on primary care centres, what the timetable is for each centre in development, including the expected opening date.

John Hutton: Only the national total of completed primary care centres is collated centrally. Primary care trusts are responsible for individual schemes and their completion.

Royal Preston Hospital

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  how many trauma cases which would previously have been treated at Chorley and South Ribble District hospital went directly to Royal Preston hospital in each of the last three years; and how many went to Preston via Chorley;
	(2)  if he will list the public meetings held by Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust and primary care trusts regarding the proposed transfer of emergency medical surgery to Royal Preston hospital.

Melanie Johnson: This is a matter for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals National Health Service Trust, and the Chorley and South Ribble Primary Care Trust and the Preston PCT.

Royal Preston Hospital

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what ambulance cover is available when ambulances are taking trauma patients from Chorley constituency to Preston;
	(2)  how much extra ambulance time has been taken transporting patients from Chorley to Preston for trauma cases who would have previously been treated at Chorley and South Ribble hospital;
	(3)  what estimate he has made of how many extra ambulance hours per month will be used transferring patients previously treated at Chorley from Chorley and South Ribble to Preston under proposals to treat emergency medical operations at Preston;
	(4)  what extra ambulance cover will operate in the Chorley and South Ribble catchment area under plans to treat emergency medical surgery at Preston.

Melanie Johnson: This is a matter for the Lancashire Ambulance Service National Health Service Trust and the primary care trusts serving the Preston and Chorley and South Ribble areas.

Royal Preston Hospital

Lindsay Hoyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Health 
	(1)  what agreements have been reached between the Ambulance Service and the NHS Trust concerned on plans to treat all emergency medical surgery at Preston; and what funding arrangements are in place;
	(2)  what meetings have taken place between ambulance services and Lancashire Teaching Hospitals Trust on the proposed shift in emergency medical surgery to the Royal Preston hospital.

Melanie Johnson: This is a matter for the Lancashire Teaching Hospitals National Health Service Trust, the Lancashire Ambulance Service NHS Trust, and the local primary care trusts serving the Preston and Chorley and South Ribble areas.

Staff Numbers (York)

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many full-time equivalent NHS (a) nurses and (b) staff in each of the other professions allied to medicine were working in hospitals in the greater York area in (i) 1994 and (ii) each year since then.

Melanie Johnson: Data for 1994 were collected at local level and therefore cannot be accurately compared with later years.
	The information from 1995 is shown in the table.
	
		National health service hospital and community health services: qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff and qualified allied health professionals in the North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire strategic health authority (SHA) area and each specified organisation as at 30 September each specified year
		
			 hole-time equivalent 
			  1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 
		
		
			 Qualified nursing, midwifery and health visiting staff 
			 North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire SHA 7,057 7,083 6,961 6,903 6,605 6,816 6,884 7,688 7,951 
			 Of which:  
			 Total specified organisations 1,513 1,310 1,361 1,235 1,268 1,375 1,394 1,407 1,477 
			 Selby and York primary care trust (PCT) n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 262 492 529 
			 York health services NHS trust 1,513 1,310 1,361 1,235 1,268 1,375 1,132 915 948 
			  
			 Qualified allied health professionals 
			 North and East Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire SHA 879 942 977 999 996 987 1,013 1,213 1,326 
			 Of which:  
			 Total specified organisations 191 207 213 227 230 241 244 276 306 
			 Selby and York PCT n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a 91 107 120 
			 York health services NHS trust 191 207 213 227 230 241 153 169 186 
		
	
	n/a—not applicable.
	Notes: Figures are rounded to the nearest whole number. 1995–2001 figures are based on 2002 organisational structure.
	Source: Department of Health non-medical workforce census.

Voluntary Hospices (VAT Relief)

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the outcome was of the report from HM Customs and Excise to his Department regarding relief from VAT for all voluntary hospices.

Melanie Johnson: holding answer 19 October 2004
	The discussions between officials from the Department and Her Majesty's Customs and Excise in 2002 regarding value added tax addressed concerns raised by Macmillan Cancer Relief about the VAT payable on some of their capital building projects for the national health service.
	The Government were able to give a commitment that the NHS will meet the VAT consequentials of projects that are deemed to be priorities by cancer networks. The national partnership group for palliative care—which set the criteria for the use of the additional £50 million for specialist palliative care provided under the NHS cancer plan from 2003–04—agreed to recommend the approach already proposed by several cancer networks that Macmillan's VAT costs should be met from the first year slippage from the relevant network's allocation from the £50 million. This special arrangement for Macmillan was a transitional arrangement for 2003–04 only.

HOUSE OF COMMONS COMMISSION

Parliamentary Estate (Heating)

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission what the total cost of heating the buildings on the parliamentary estate has been for each year since 1990.

Archy Kirkwood: The following table gives the total cost of heating buildings on the parliamentary estate, including House of Lords buildings, since 1996–97 which is as far back as invoices are retained. For comparison purposes, costs have been adjusted to 2004 prices.
	
		Total cost of heating the buildings on the parliamentary estate
		
			  Yearly heating cost (£) 
		
		
			 1996–97 241,761 
			 1997–98 184,604 
			 1998–99 239,855 
			 1999–2000 259,715 
			 2000–01 266,852 
			 2001–02 248,060 
			 2002–03 255,118 
			 2003–04 248,324

Parliamentary Estate (Heating)

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission what steps the House has taken to cut heat loss in buildings on the parliamentary estate; and if he will make a statement.

Archy Kirkwood: The House is committed to continuous improvement in its efficient use of energy. Much has already been achieved and the work will continue. The current energy conservation strategy includes investing in energy saving schemes, such as insulation and draught-proofing, offering pay-back periods of up to seven years; sub-metering to give better information on where energy is consumed; improved efficiency of plant and encouraging nominated 'energy savers' in the departments of the House to make savings.

Parliamentary Estate (Heating)

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission what the estimated amount of heat lost in each building on the parliamentary estate was in each year since 1990.

Archy Kirkwood: The following table gives the figures for total energy consumption attributable to heating for House of Commons buildings and for the Palace of Westminster, which is shared with the House of Lords. Portcullis House was designed to be an exceptionally energy efficient building; the Palace of Westminster is intrinsically less so.
	
		kWH per yearAnnual heating gas consumptions kWH
		
			  POW 2 The Abbey Garden 1 Canon Row Norman Shaw South (42) 7 Millbank Portcullis House 3 Deans Yard 
		
		
			 1995–96 (43)— 10,249,599 75,045,883 209,078,091 (43)— (43)— 45,098,872 
			 1996–97 1,793,327,589 10,147,868 168,719,359 200,592,673 13,246,183 (43)— 52,065,939 
			 1997–98 1,136,811,232 7,778,347 155,617,488 159,291,878 216,945,944 (43)— 353,58,374 
			 1998–99 1,692,250,382 8,726,155 133,947,431 1,612,519,131 190,410,713 (43)— 36,748,611 
			 1999–2000 1,827,963,510 9,326,434 182,497,332 166,775,791 186,379,132 (43)— 35,886,664 
			 2000–01 1,778,739,375 10,684,959 227,331,825 1,850,441,911 226,742,144 29,113,661 42,063,953 
			 2001–02 1,912,482,770 11,569,580 17,035,717 127,308,496 189,499,505 32,797,255 8,329,284 
			 2002–03 1,833,131,114 11,616,971 20,738,046 272,729,226 181,705,679 32,117,989 (43)— 
			 2003–04 1,750,246,800 10,868,202 (44)— 308,645,742 182,873,633 33,787,043 (43)— 
		
	
	(42) Norman Shaw North is serviced by the Norman Shaw South boiler house and therefore does not appear separately in this list.
	(43) Indicate that there was no data for that year or that the building was not part of the estate.
	(44) The heating system for 1 Canon Row was removed in 2002 which is why no data appears after this date. Heating for 1 Canon Row is now serviced by the Norman Shaw South boiler house.

Parliamentary Estate (Heating)

Norman Baker: To ask the hon. Member for Roxburgh and Berwickshire, representing the House of Commons Commission what steps he takes to ensure that buildings on the parliamentary estate are heated according to occupancy and climatic conditions rather than a standard date and time.

Archy Kirkwood: Each building on the estate has a computerised building energy management system with controls to ensure that the optimum start of the heating system is calculated on the basis of the need for heating rather than on a standard time and date basis. This follows normal good practice in the industry.

WORK AND PENSIONS

Benefit Processing Centres (Wales)

Elfyn Llwyd: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions when he intends to consult the PCS union in Wales on the proposed closure of benefit processing centres in Wales; and if he will make a statement.

Jane Kennedy: Following national consultation with the Jobcentre Plus Trade Unions in July and September 2004, the Director for Jobcentre Plus Wales, Sheelagh Keyse, met with PCS (Wales) on 29 September 2004. During the consultation, PCS were informed of the reasons for and the full impact of the Jobcentre Plus Rollout Programme and the centralisation of benefit processing in Wales.

Child Support Agency

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what recent changes have been made in the protocol for the Child Support Agency in dealing with calls from hon. Members' offices.

Chris Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the chief executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Chris Ruane, dated 20 October 2004
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent changes have been made in the protocol for the Child Support Agency in dealing with calls from honourable Members' offices.
	There have been no changes in the protocol for the Child Support Agency in dealing with calls from honourable members offices. Members of Parliament and their staff can phone the Agency's "MP Hotlines" which have been established covering each of the Agency's main business units.
	If you have had experience of a call being incorrectly dealt with and can provide me with the details I will be pleased to have one of my senior managers investigate further and reply to you as soon as possible.

Child Support Agency

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what the timescale is for the phasing in of old Child Support Agency cases migrating from the old to the new system; and what proportion of the migrating cases will be dealt with under the (a) old and (b) new criteria.

Chris Pond: The administration of the Child Support Agency is a matter for the Chief Executive, Mr. Doug Smith. He will write to the hon. Member with the information requested.
	Letter from Doug Smith to Mr. Chris Ruane, dated 20 October 2004
	In reply to your recent Parliamentary Question about the Child Support Agency the Secretary of State promised a substantive reply from the Chief Executive.
	You asked the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if he will outline the timescale for the phasing in of old Child Support Agency cases migrating from the old to the new system; and what proportion of the migrating cases will be dealt with under the (a) old and (b) new criteria.
	We have not yet finalised with EDS the timetable for migrating cases from the old to the new system. Our intention is that when cases are migrated between the systems, those appropriate for conversion to the new arrangements will do so as soon as possible.

Endometriosis

Damian Green: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what plans he has to add endometriosis to the list of conditions taken into account when considering eligibility for disability living allowance; and if he will make a statement.

Maria Eagle: Entitlement to disability living allowance is not linked to particular disabling conditions, but on the extent to which a severely disabled person has personal care needs and/or walking difficulties as a result of their disability. People with endometriosis can qualify for the allowance if they satisfy the rules which govern entitlement.

Green Ministers

John Horam: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many meetings of the Ministerial Sub-Committee of Green Ministers were attended by the Department's Green Minister in (a) 2002–03 and (b) 2003–04.

Chris Pond: My noble Friend Baroness Hollis of Heigham is the Green Minister for the Department for Work and Pensions. It has been established practice under successive Governments not to disclose information relating to the proceedings of Cabinet Committees. This practice is now in line with Exemption 2 of Part II of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.

Pension Credit

Jim Cunningham: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions if he will make a statement on the level of take-up of pension credit.

Malcolm Wicks: I refer my hon. Friend to the written statement that I made on 16 September 2004, Official Report, column 185WS. At 31 August, there were 4,580 pension credit households in Coventry, South, comprising 5,430 individuals (figures rounded the nearest five).

Poverty (Yeovil)

David Laws: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions how many (a) children and (b) pensioners were estimated to be living in poverty in Yeovil constituency in each year from 1995–96; and if he will make a statement.

Chris Pond: Poverty is about more than low income; it also impacts on the way people live—their health, housing and the quality of their environment. The sixth annual 'Opportunity for All' report (Cm 6239 ) sets out the Government's strategy for tackling poverty and social exclusion and presents information on the indicators used to measure progress against this strategy. The sixth annual "Opportunity for All" report was published on 13 September 2004.
	Specific information regarding low income for Great Britain and the United Kingdom for children and pensioners is available in "Households Below Average Income 1994–95—2002–03". Data are not available below regional level.
	"Measuring Child Poverty", published in December 2003, outlines the Government's measure of UK child poverty for the long term. This new measure will begin from 2004–05.
	All publications listed are available in the Library.

Service Delivery Arrangements

Chris Ruane: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what measures have been put in place of service delivery during the period of change caused by restructuring.

Jane Kennedy: The Department for Work and Pensions has a Public Service Agreement (PSA) target to improve the delivery of services of each of its businesses by setting published annual targets addressing accuracy, unit costs and customer service. The annual targets are announced in Parliament via a written statement and in the Agencies Business Plan, as well as being published on the Department's website. Progress against the Department's PSA targets and the annual Agencies targets are monitored by the Department and published in the Department's Annual Report.

Unclaimed Benefits

Bob Spink: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions what assessment he has made of the level of each unclaimed benefit in (a) England, (b) Essex and (c) Castle Point.

Chris Pond: The information is not available in the format requested.
	Latest estimates of the amount of benefits unclaimed are available on a national basis only and relate to the minimum income guarantee, income support for non-pensioners, housing benefit, council tax benefit and income-based jobseeker's allowance. Statistics for 2001–02—the latest year for which information is available—are published in the DWP report, "Income Related Benefits Estimates of Take-Up in 2001/2002". Copies of the publication can be found in the Library.

NORTHERN IRELAND

Child Support Agency

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland when the new computer system for the Child Support Agency in Northern Ireland was installed; and what the cost was.

John Spellar: The new computer system for the Northern Ireland Child Support Agency began to process new child support applications on 3 March 2003.
	The Northern Ireland Child Support Agency has paid £3 million to date towards the new computer system's running costs.

Child Support Agency

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what the current backlog of cases being processed by the Child Support Agency in Northern Ireland is.

John Spellar: The Northern Ireland Child Support Agency considers 3,670 applications as a viable and accepted level of work in progress on applications under the new child support scheme. There are currently 5,645 applications for child maintenance at various stages of the assessment process.
	The difference between the acceptable level of work to be progressed and the actual can be attributed to the many applications under the reformed rules that have become unprogressible because of defects with the new computer system.
	The cases that are unprogressible because of system defects are being addressed as part of the recovery plan which the service provider, Electronic Data Systems Limited (EDS), has implemented.

Child Support Agency

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many cases have been processed manually by the special group set up within the Child Support Agency in Northern Ireland to deal with the current backlog.

John Spellar: A total of 53 cases are currently being managed clerically due to defects with the new computer system.

Closed Circuit Television

Roy Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many towns and cities in Northern Ireland have CCTV schemes in operation; and how many cameras are deployed in each scheme.

John Spellar: At present there are seventeen town centre CCTV systems operating in Northern Ireland, which have received assistance from public funds, as listed. We do not maintain records centrally in relation to the number of cameras at each location, but we estimate that approximately 200 cameras are in operation across these sites:
	Armagh
	Ballymena
	Ballynahinch
	Banbridge
	Belfast
	Coleraine
	Craigavon
	Dungannon
	Dunmurry
	Fivemiletown
	Hillsborough
	Lisburn
	Londonderry
	Moira
	Moy
	Omagh
	Portadown
	Assistance from public funds has also been given to two further systems in Maghera and Magherafelt, which are expected to become operational shortly. Finally, I have recently agreed to provide funding to Newtownabbey borough council to assist with the establishment of a new CCTV system in Glengormley town centre.
	There may be other town centres which have had CCTV cameras installed, without assistance from central Government and we would not be aware of the full extent of such systems.
	On 14 June 2004, I announced that Government had made available a further £2 million to assist with the development of CCTV in Northern Ireland, including funding for the development of new town centre systems as well as the expansion and enhancement of current systems. Officials have now gathered 32 Expressions of Interest from across Northern Ireland for further support of town centre CCTV systems.

Equal Opportunities Commission

Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland 
	(1)  how many claims brought to the Equal Opportunities Commission have been settled by the accused employer paying a token sum to the plaintiff in the last two years;
	(2)  how many cases brought by the Equal Opportunities Commission have been overturned by the courts in the last two years; and what the resulting cost to public funding was in each case.

John Spellar: Under the Northern Ireland Act 1998, the Equality Commission for Northern Ireland took over responsibility for the functions previously exercised by the Equal Opportunities Commission. I have asked the Chief Executive of the Equality Commission to write to the hon. Gentleman. A copy of the letter will be placed in the Library.

Hazardous Waste

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will list the landfill sites in Northern Ireland; and which of them are able to accept hazardous waste.

Angela Smith: There are currently 47 licensed landfill sites, in Northern Ireland, authorised to accept waste for disposal. A list of these sites follows. There are currently no landfill sites or 'permitted' facilities in Northern Ireland authorised to accept special (hazardous) waste.
	Current Licensed Landfill Sites in Northern Ireland:
	91 Hillsborough Road, Carryduff, Belfast
	1 Cranfield Road, Kilkeel, Newry
	Adjacent to 88 Greencastle Road, Kilkeel, Newry
	Aughrim Quarry, 141 Colinglen Road, Ballycolin, Belfast
	Lisbane Quarry, Aughlish Road, Tandragee
	Dargan Road, Belfast
	Land at Gilnahirk Road/Gilnahirk Road West, Belfast
	Culmore Landfill Site, Coney Road, Culmore, Londonderry
	Maydown Works, Electra Road, Coolkeeragh, Londonderry
	Campsie, Mobuoy Road, Campsite, Londonderry
	Drumillar, Jerretspass
	Ballyclare Road Landfill Site, Green Road Quarry, 64 Green Road, Ballyclare
	Crosshill Quarry, Crumlin
	Craiganee Quarry, Ballyskeagh High, Ballybarnes Road, Newtownards
	159a Movilla Road, Newtownards
	Carrowdore Road, Greyabbey, Newtownards
	Rockmount Quarry, 124a Movilla Road, Newtownards
	Annareagh Road, Richhill, Armagh
	Blackmountain Quarries, Upper Springfield Road, Belfast
	Wolfhill, Ligoneil, Belfast
	Kilroot Power Station, Larne Road, Carrickfergus
	Craigahulliar Landfill Site, 45 Craigahulliar Road, Portrush
	Ballyhome Road, Portrush
	Magheraglass, Knockaleery Road
	52 Hunters Hill Road, Gilford, Armagh
	Ballyfodrin, Drumneven, Moy Road, Portadown
	Clooney Road, Maydown, Londonderry
	Woodside Road, Newbuildings, Londonderry
	Drumnakelly, Demense Road, Seaforde, County Down
	Tullyvar Landfill Site, 130 Tuilyvar Road, Ballygawley, Dungannon
	Rumbling Hole, Glenside Road, Hannahstown, Dunmurry
	21 Mullaghglass Road, Lisburn
	Aughrim Quarry, Flobog Road, Ballycolin, Belfast
	37 Colinglen Road, Dunmurry, Belfast
	Boomers Hill, Aughrim Hill, Mullaghglass Road, Lisburn
	New Line Landfill, Hannahstown, Dunmurry, Belfast
	Glenside Road, Dunmurry, Belfast
	West of Hannahstown Road, Lisburn
	Ballymacombs, Bellaghy
	Aughnagun, Chapel Hill Road, Mayobridge, Newry
	Ballyduff Quarry, Ballyduff Road, Newtownabbey
	39 Groganstown Road, Dunmurry, Belfast
	Glassmullagh Landfill Site, Derrygonnelly Road, Enniskillen
	Ballymacvea Landfill Site, Island Road, Shanksbridge, Ballymena
	Carnmoney Road, Maydown, Londonderry
	23 Mullaghcarton Road, Lisburn
	141 Glen Road, Gransha, Castlereagh, Belfast

Housing (Blackstaff Ward)

Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what housing needs assessments have been conducted in the Blackstaff ward of south Belfast.

John Spellar: An area appraisal of 1,000 homes was undertaken in 1994–95 and in 1999–2000 a condition survey of 1,300 properties was carried out. In 2002 consultants produced a wide-ranging report for future regeneration of the area and the options are currently being developed and costed with a view to consulting the community in January 2005. A further Urban Renewal Area assessment of 1,377 properties was carried out in 2002.

Housing (Blackstaff Ward)

Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment he has made of the extent to which lead piping is being used in (a) private and (b) Housing Executive housing in the Blackstaff ward.

John Spellar: A survey has been carried out in the Blackstaff ward to assess the extent to which lead piping is still being used. The results of the survey will be available very shortly and I will write to the hon. Member with the information.
	Lead piping is no longer used in any new work. In addition, the executive replaces all such piping during work to its own stock and there is a requirement to replace it in private sector grant aided work.

Housing (Blackstaff Ward)

Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland whether the Housing Executive sold any of its empty houses in the Blackstaff ward to private purchases.

John Spellar: The most recent figures readily available show that over the last seven years the Housing Executive has sold 70 properties on the open market in this ward to private purchasers.

Housing Executive

Martin Smyth: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what comparative data he has collated on the findings of inspections of the quality of contractors' work in each of the Housing Executive areas in Belfast.

John Spellar: The Housing Executive is progressively implementing Egan contract arrangements, which provide for performance assessment and where necessary action to be taken to ensure the quality of the work. Comparative data on the quality of contractor's work is not collated by the Housing Executive.

Irish Language

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will encourage local government departments to terminate their Irish language policies.

Angela Smith: The Government has no plans to change its policy in the manner requested.

Irish Language

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what costs have arisen from adopting an Irish language policy in each of the Government departments since April 1998.

Angela Smith: I refer the hon. Lady to the answer I gave on 13 October 2004, Official Report column 312W.

Magilligan-Greencastle Ferry

Iris Robinson: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland if he will make a statement on how the Magilligan-Greencastle ferry service has been funded since its introduction.

John Spellar: Since being introduced funding for the ferry service has been provided jointly by Limavady borough council and Donegal county council.

NIBEP

Seamus Mallon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what action has been taken to ensure that (a) pupils' work placements in Northern Ireland and (b) the network of local Business Education Partnerships do not suffer as a result of the closure of Northern Ireland Business Education Partnerships (NIBEP); and what steps have been taken to ensure that the knowledge and information system developed by NIBEP as a basis for planning in this area are not lost.

Barry Gardiner: As an interim measure and to minimise inconvenience where Charter Work Experience (NIBEP's work placement programme) is the mechanism used to make arrangements for placements, my Department has approved arrangements made by NIBEP with Business in the Community for Charter's staff to continue to work up to the end of May 2005. This will facilitate placements which are currently in the pipeline.
	The local Business Education Partnerships had in recent months set up a Network which NIBEP was supporting. The Departments consider the Network to be of value and have indicated to it that while they could not support it by providing staff, they would be prepared to consider a proposal for modest funding as an interim measure.
	At the time of, or shortly before, NIBEP's closure arrangements are to be made to uplift all of NIBEP's relevant information sources to the Department of Education, including NIBEP's Programme Management database.

Northern Ireland Grand Committee

Nigel Dodds: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many meetings of the Northern Ireland Grand Committee have been held in each year since 1997; where the meetings were held; and what the subject matter of debate at each committee meeting was.

Paul Murphy: The information sought by the hon. Gentleman is as follows:
	
		Northern Ireland grand committee debates: 2003–04
		
			  Subject matter Date of debate 
		
		
			 1. Draft Budget (No.2) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 8 July 2004 
			 2. Community Relations Policy 17 June 2004 
			 3. Proposal for a Draft Special Educational Needs and Disability (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 20 May 2004 
			 4. Social Economy in Northern Ireland 29 April 2004 
			 5. Draft Budget (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 26 February 2004 
			 6. Proposal for a Draft Rates (Amendment) (Northern Ireland) Order 2004 15 January 2004 
		
	
	
		2002–03
		
			  Subject matter Date of debate 
		
		
			 1. Draft Employment (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 8 July 2003 
			 2. Draft Budget (No.2) (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 3 July 2003 
			 3. Reinvestment and Reform Initiative 9 June 2003 
			 4. Draft Budget (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 6 February 2003 
			 5. Draft Strategic Investment and Regeneration of Sites (Northern Ireland) Order 2003 4 February 2003 
		
	
	
		2001–02
		
			  Subject matter Date of debate 
		
		
			 1. Access to Justice (Northern Ireland) 24 October 2002 
			 2. Scope for a Bill of Rights 27 June 2002 
			 3. Draft Criminal Injuries Compensation (Northern Ireland) Order 13 December 2001 
		
	
	
		1999–2000
		
			  Subject Matter Date of Debate 
		
		
			 1. Juvenile Justice Centre Estate 29 November 2000 
			 2. Devolution in Northern Ireland 5 July 2000 
			 3. State of Northern Ireland Agriculture 13 April 2000 
			 4. Draft Appropriation (Northern Ireland) Order 2000 9 March 2000 
		
	
	
		1998–99
		
			  Subject Matter Date of Debate 
		
		
			 1. Review of the Criminal Justice System 8 July 1999 
			 2. "Lifelong Learning—A new Learning Culture for All": Consultation Document 24 June 1999 
			 3. Economic Development Strategy Review 25 March 1999 
			 4. Draft Appropriation (Northern Ireland) Order 1999 25 February 1999 
			 5. Hospital Services 28 January 1999 
			 6. Comprehensive Spending Review in Northern Ireland 10 December 1998 
		
	
	
		1997–98
		
			  Subject Matter Date of Debate 
		
		
			 1. Draft Appropriation (No.2) (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 2 July 1998 
			 2. Regional Strategic Framework for Northern Ireland 4 June 1998 
			 3. The Northern Ireland Economy 26 March 1998 
			 4. Draft Appropriation (Northern Ireland) Order 1998 26 February 1998 
			 5. Education Priorities in Northern Ireland 29 January 1998 
			 6. Public Expenditure in Northern Ireland in 1998–99 11 December 1997 
		
	
	All of the above sittings were held at Westminster.

Parking Restrictions

Roy Beggs: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what plans he has to introduce residential-only parking areas in Northern Ireland.

John Spellar: The Chief Executive of Roads Service (Dr. Malcolm McKibbin) has been asked to write to the hon. Gentleman in response to this question.
	Letter from Dr. Malcolm McKibbin to Mr. Roy Beggs, dated 20 October 2004
	You recently asked the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland a Parliamentary Question about what plans he has to introduce residents' only parking areas in Northern Ireland. I have been asked to reply as these issues fall within my responsibility as Chief Executive of Roads Service.
	As you may be aware, the Department took the necessary primary legislative power in the Road Traffic Regulation (NI) Order 1997 to enable it to introduce residents' parking controls. A considerable amount of exploratory work was undertaken at that time in conjunction with the police in the expectation that a small number of pilot schemes would be introduced in Ballymena and Belfast. I am sure you will appreciate that, in order to be effective, such measures require meaningful enforcement. Regrettably, in March 2002 the PSNI wrote formally to Roads Service and advised that it would be unable to accept this responsibility and as such, we were not able to proceed with our proposals at that time.
	Subsequently, Roads Service initiated a process to introduce the necessary primary legislative power to decriminalise on-street parking offences and assume responsibility for enforcement of parking restrictions. I must point out however, that the introduction of Decriminalised Parking Enforcement (DPE) is a complex procedure. It is anticipated that the new primary legislation will be in place in 2005 and that the new enforcement arrangements will be fully operational by mid-2006, thus permitting the opportunity to introduce and enforce residents' parking schemes. More recently, following the intervention of John Spellar MP, the Chief Constable, Hugh Orde, wrote to Roads Service confirming that he had asked that District Commanders give consideration to assisting with the enforcement of residents' parking schemes where it would fit in with policing priorities at a local level.
	My staff are currently liaising with PSNI to determine how best a small number of pilot schemes might be introduced and adequately enforced so as to fully inform the development of policy and from which to learn how best the concept might be rolled out in appropriate places. In parallel with this, we are liaising with Local Authorities in Great Britain to gather best practice to help inform this development of policy.
	I can assure you that we are progressing this matter as expeditiously as possible however, the introduction of any pilot schemes at this time will depend on the PSNI ability to enforce. Should this enforcement not be forthcoming, it is unlikely that residents' parking schemes will become an on-the- ground reality before parking offences are decriminalised in mid-2006, and responsibility for the enforcement of on-street waiting restrictions is transferred to this Department.

Public Prosecution Service

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what he expects the (a) set-up and (b) running costs of the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland to be.

John Spellar: The set-up and running costs of the Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland are as follows:
	
		
			  Set-up costs (£ million) 
		
		
			 2001–02 (45)0.4 
			 2002–03 (45)2.1 
			 2003–04 (45)8.6 
			 2004–05 (46)11.4 
			 2005–06 (46)15.8 
			 2006–07 (46)20.9 
			 2007–08 (46)19.2 
			 Total 78.4 
		
	
	(45) Actual costs
	(46) Budget
	The projected total running costs for the PPS in 2007–08 are £32 million pa.

Public Prosecution Service

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what steps are being taken to ensure there is no public confusion between the roles of the Public Prosecution Service of Northern Ireland and the Police Service of Northern Ireland.

John Spellar: Over the course of the last two years the Director of Public Prosecutions has held two major public information events, one in Belfast and one in Tyrone, and has recently provided a briefing to Parliamentarians. Additionally briefings have been given to key stakeholders in the criminal justice system and others including the legal profession, the PSNI, the Policing Board and the District Policing Partnerships, political parties, church leaders, ethnic minority and women's representative groups. All of these events are aimed at making the key stakeholders and the general public fully aware of the changing roles of the Director of Public Prosecutions and the new Public Prosecution Service for Northern Ireland in relation to the Police Service of Northern Ireland. These events will continue not only during the implementation phase of the project but on an on-going basis for the new Service.

Public Prosecution Service

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what assessment has been made of whether the co-location of police officers in the regional offices of the Public Prosecution Service will lead to closures of police stations; and what research has been undertaken into the effects of such co-location on public perception of the independence of the Public Prosecution Service.

John Spellar: The number of police officers actually co-located within PPS facilities is relatively small and will not cause the closure of any police stations. The decision to co-locate in this manner is based on research completed by DPP implementation staff and an external report by the Management Consultants specifically aimed at maintaining the public perception of the independence of the Public Prosecution Service. The police liaison staff act as a conduit to exchange information between the PSNI and PPS. It is in the interests of efficiency to all parties that such staff are co-located.

Rail Stations

Gregory Campbell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how much has been spent on (a) maintenance and (b) improvements to each rail station in the Belfast area in each of the last five years.

John Spellar: The following was spent on maintenance to each rail station in the Belfast area in each of the last five years.
	
		
			  £ 
			 Station 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 Central 42,200 45,400 48,800 81,100 14,700 
			 Botanic 14,100 15,200 16,400 2,100 33,100 
			 City Hospital 3,700 4,000 4,300 400 3,500 
			 Great Victoria Street 36,800 39,600 42,600 21,300 13,100 
			 Adelaide 5,500 5,800 6,200 6,600 7,000 
			 Balmoral 5,900 6,200 6,600 7,100 7,500 
			 Finaghy 8,600 9,100 9,700 10,300 11,000 
			 Sydenham 3,500 3,700 4,000 17,100 8,700 
			 Bridge End 4,600 5,000 5,400 3,900 7,200 
			 Yorkgate 13,600 14,700 15,800 12,200 14,000 
			 Whiteabbey 7,000 7,500 8,100 3,600 2,900 
			 Jordanstown 4,700 5,000 5,400 2,300 11,900 
			 Greenisland 5,000 5,400 5,800 5,000 7,200 
		
	
	The following was spent on improvements to each rail station in the Belfast area in each of the last five years.
	
		
			  £ 
			 Station 1999–2000 2000–01 2001–02 2002–03 2003–04 
		
		
			 Central 1.5 million 2 million 2 million 1.2 million 100,000 
			 Botanic 0 0 0 800 4,500 
			 City Hospital 0 0 0 11,800 7,800 
			 Great Victoria Street 0 0 100,000 13,500 6,500 
			 Adelaide 0 0 0 11,000 8,000 
			 Balmoral 0 0 0 7,700 8,000 
			 Finaghy 0 0 0 11,900 8,000 
			 Sydenham 0 0 0 8,500 6,800 
			 Bridge End 0 0 0 8,900 6,700 
			 Yorkgate 0 0 0 13,700 17,700 
			 Whiteabbey 0 0 0 18,000 9,000 
			 Jordanstown 0 0 0 8,000 0 
			 Greenisland 0 0 0 12,000 18,000

Rural White Paper

Eddie McGrady: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what further progress has been made towards the (a) preparation, (b) development and (c) publication of a Rural White Paper; and if he will make a statement.

Ian Pearson: A review of rural development policy being undertaken by the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, in consultation with the Rural Stakeholder Forum, will be completed in early 2005. A major study by consultants PricewaterhouseCoopers to inform this review will be completed very shortly. A decision on whether or not to produce a rural White Paper will be considered in the light of the conclusions of the review.

Water Charging

Lady Hermon: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland what progress is being made in relation to the introduction of water charging in Northern Ireland.

John Spellar: The 2003 water reform consultation document was underpinned by the proposal to move water and sewerage services in Northern Ireland to a self-financing basis. These self-financing arrangements required the introduction of domestic water charging and my announcement of 13 September 2004 gave details of the preferred options for both domestic and non-domestic charges.
	It is proposed that only those households connected to mains water and/or the public sewer will pay charges for the services they receive. These charges will consist of a standing charge plus an element based on property value. The standing charge will broadly reflect costs associated with maintaining connections to the public water and sewerage networks. Charges will be phased in with customers paying one-third of the annual charge in the first year, and two-thirds of the annual charge in the second year following the commencement of these charges. The total charges payable by a domestic customer will be capped at around £750 per annum.
	In response to views expressed in the 2003 public consultation on water reform I decided that provision should be made for household metering when water charges are fully phased in. However, I also indicated that further consideration had to be given to how best to implement this arrangement and to consider the implications for other customers.
	A central aspect of the new charging arrangements is that there will also be an assistance scheme for those households on low-income. A special hardship relief scheme, to provide temporary assistance for those householders who find themselves unable to meet the cost of their water or sewerage charges as a result of exceptional circumstances, will also be provided.
	Under the new arrangements, all non-domestic customers will be required to pay water and sewerage charges, and where appropriate, trade effluent charges. Water metering will continue to be the preferred basis for charging the non-domestic sector and the scope of metering will continue to be extended throughout this customer group. A larger number of non-domestic customers will move to metered charges or assessed charges but an unmeasured regime will be introduced for the many small businesses and voluntary groups which have low water usage. This unmeasured regime will entail standing charges for water and sewerage services and a variable charge based on the rateable value of the business premises. The domestic allowance for water will be phased out over a three-year period with the result that all water consumed will be paid for. The total charges payable by any customer without a meter will be capped at around £1,500 per annum. Existing non-domestic customers who currently have meters and who are also connected to the public sewer will incur a sewerage standing charge and a volumetric sewerage charge in addition to their existing metered water charges. Trade effluent charges will be calculated on the same basis as elsewhere in the UK, and the charging regime will apply to all businesses with a discharge consent.
	The proposed domestic charging regime has been the subject of an Equality Impact Assessment and the non-domestic regime has been the subject of a Regulatory Impact Assessment. These assessments will form a major part of an Integrated Impact Assessment which will be the subject of a 12-week consultation on the impacts arising from the bases of charging and other water reform proposals. This consultation will commence later in the autumn. Responses on the Integrated Impact Assessment will be considered before draft legislation on water reform is issued for public consultation during the first half of 2005.
	Despite the considerable amount of work to be done it is hoped to introduce the new charging arrangements in 2006–07 or as soon as practicable thereafter.